Distant Worlds
by zsadistinchains
Summary: The characters of FB have been put into my own imaginary world. They befriend a group of people that possess a secret of their own. When strange things begin to happen, those of FB are sucked into their strange 'world'. Nothing is as it seems anymore...
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own any of the content relating to the original Fruits Basket. I do, however, own Venus, Ashlynn, and Silver, and any other content related to them as well._

**Chapter 1**

The bell rang in the background, drowned out by the chattering students. It sounded like a train bell click-clacking along in the rain that pounded the windows, not willing to let up.

"The subway has rolled through! You are excused!" the teacher yelled over the noise. Every student stuffed their books and accessories into their backpacks and rushed out the small door the teacher held open. "Ashlynn, Emily hold on a moment please."

"It's Silver!" Emily snarled. The teacher made no notice of her remark. Silver folded her arms across her chest and followed Ashlynn to the teachers desk.

"You two are doing exceptionally well in this class." he said as he handed them back their US History tests. Both read '100% Excellent job' in red ink at the top. Big surprise there. They had an A on every history test they took. "I would like both of you to switch to AP US History starting tomorrow. I have already arranged it and your new schedules should be in the office now." he looked up and shifted his thin-wired glasses, smiling. The three bowed slightly and Ash and Silver left the room silently.

"I don't want to be in AP Ash, I hate history." Silver said after they got a ways away from their history classroom, greatly emphasizing the 'hate' part of her statement. She gazed at her test and threw it in a trash can as they walked by it.

Ashlynn just laughed and slightly shook her head. "I guess there is no way of getting around it. At least we have a nice teacher, right? Or maybe we should start failing?" Silver looked at her for a moment, then turned away and smiled at her friend's sarcasm. They stopped at their lockers; Ashlynn on the left, Silver on the right. In the distance the chant of the Yuki Fan Club could be heard.

"Oh God he's coming…" Silver grunted as she yanked open her locker. It wasn't actually Yuki she despised, it was his little "Fan Club" that made her want to murder someone. Yuki quickly brushed past them and stopped at his locker, the locker on Ashlynn's left. They both glanced at him and he glanced back and smiled. They went back to grabbing their books needed for homework; Algebra 2, English Language, Chemistry and US History.

"Ashlynn, since it's raining, do you think Venus would come out to pick us up?" Silver asked.

"She might. Go ahead and ask her." Silver pulled out her cell phone and typed in the message, 'hey V, you mind picking us up? You don't have to if you don't want to.' Yuki was watching her quietly.

"What?" she snapped as she turned to look at him, clicking her phone closed.

"Venus?" he asked. Clearly, he didn't know Venus. Then again, most didn't.

"It's only my bestest buddy in the world." Silver said, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"I see." he said as two other boys walked up, one the same age and grade as Ash, Silver, 17 and one the same age as Yuki, 18. One had white and black hair and grey eyes and the other had bright orange hair and dark orange-like eyes.

"Haru, Kyo." Ashlynn and Silver nodded to them both. Silver's cell phone buzzed and she whipped it out in the blink of an eye.

'Sure, I will come. Right now?' the message said.

'In a bit. We have to get our new schedules.' Silver put her phone back in her pocket.

"Was that her?" Yuki asked. Silver nodded.

"Well think it's about time for us to get going now Silver, come on." Ashlynn tugged on Silver's arm, pulling her away from the lockers.

"Sheesh calm down." Silver giggled slightly.

"To the bathroom then office." Ashlynn said as they began to walk.

"I hope it's alright if we tag along." Yuki smiled. Ashlynn nodded, smiling at the thought of Venus cracking a joke right at that point about the boys coming with them and the bathroom.

"Alright that's fine." Silver said, though not thrilled about it.

"Give me your brush." Ashlynn said. Silver dug in her navy blue Jansport backpack, pulled out her silver brush, and gave it to her. Ashlynn began to unbraid Silver's long, silver hair as they walked towards the bathroom. She brushed it until it was sleek and soft to the touch, then she put it back into two pigtails, tying a black bow at the end of each. They took a quick stop at the bathroom then picked up their new schedules at the office, which now identically matched Yuki, Haru and Kyo's schedules.

"So… Who was this Venus person you mentioned earlier?" Kyo asked as they exited the building and stood under the overhang to stay out of the pouring rain.

Just at that moment a midnight black Ford F-350 came racing into the parking lot and screeched to a halt before the group.

"You're about to find out." Ashlynn snorted. The V10 diesel engine turned off and the door opened and Venus hopped out. She strutted over to the in her black leather combat boots, black fishnet stockings, black leather skirt accessorized with chains, black leather corset with crimson laces, black leather elbow-length gloves and black sunglasses. Most of her hair was black. The top layers were teased out the back in all different directions and the bottom layers were much longer, about to her waist, and straightened. Her bangs were pure white and ate up the left side of her face. A single white stripe ran horizontally across the left side of her head.

"Yo." she spat out as she slung her arms around Ashlynn and Silver.

"Yo yourself." Ashlynn said.

"What's up with orange top over there?" She gestures at Kyo. You could just about see the veins popping out of his head.

"Kyo." he said.

"I'm sorry did you say something orangey?" she said as she walked up to him. She stared him directly in the eyes as they were the exact same height. Kyo clenched his fists and scowled at her. He opened his mouth to say something when Venus interrupted him.

"Well I guess not so we're going now." Venus said. "Yuki, Haru, Orangey. Goodbye."

"H- how did you know our names?" Kyo sputtered.

"That's for me to know and for you to not find out." Venus said as she waved her hand over her head and climbed back into her truck.

"Maybe you could come over for dinner tonight?" Ashlynn shrugged and suggested. Suddenly Venus was at her side. The boys gaped at her.

"What did you just say?"

"They're coming over for dinner, aren't you?" The boys looked at each other and shrugged, nodding.

"Why did you- what is your- oh fucking a…" Venus said and stormed off to her truck. She got in and slammed the door shut.

"Well isn't she a big ball of sunshine." Kyo said sarcastically. Silver backhanded him.

"Shut UP!" she yelled at him. Her light blue eyes went black as she stormed off to Venus's truck, got in the passenger seat, and slammed the door.

"I guess that's my cue to leave." Ash gave them directions to their house. She waved as she piled herself and her things into the back seat. Venus immediately put her truck in gear and sped out of the parking lot, tires screeching. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"What did you go and invite them over for?" Venus said through clenched teeth. Her hands gripped the steering wheel and her body was rigid.

"I was just offering, being nice." Venus said nothing. "I know, you're not one to play nice-" Venus snorted, "-but still… You're in that house alone all day. I figure you might want to…" she waved her hands around, searching for the right words, "I don't know… socialize." Venus turned in her seat to glare back at Ash. She turned her eyes back to the road.

"Don't even." She said. Ashlynn shook her head.

They turned a sharp corner and continued driving down the narrow road in silence. A few minutes later, they turned down their driveway. Venus reached up and pressed a button on her dashboard. She raced around to the back of the house and screeched to a stop inside the garage. She pressed the button again and the garage door snapped shut. They all got out and went into the house.

The door opened into a small room with another door to the left. The room had dark cherry wood floors that stretched throughout the whole house. In the room were a washer, dryer and cabinets full of laundry detergent, dryer sheets, laundry baskets and assorted bath towels. There was a small window that looked out onto the covered parch walk and into the front yard and the forest beyond that. Through the door on the left they went. Beyond that door was a pantry on the left, and straight ahead was the kitchen which bore an island in the middle with a electric stove. At the far left of the kitchen was the nook which looked out into the backyard. It also had a door that led to the patio.

They exited the kitchen with the dining room on their right and the great room on their left. The dining room had a walk-in closet with thing from napkins to candles to who knows what else. It also had windows with sheer white curtains tied back with silver tassels. Those looked out onto the covered porch walk and beyond. The great room had sliding glass doors leading to the patio, a firewood-burning fireplace, and a huge entertainment system stocked with all the latest things. On the other side of that closet, across from the great room was the foyer. Past those rooms were stairs leading to the second floor.

Ashlynn walked past the stairs with a crawl space closet, past the den on her right, a small closet on her left, a bathroom next to that, and into her bedroom. On her right was her walk-in closet, on the left wall was a door leading to the patio, on the far wall were windows covered by forest green velvet curtain, next to the closet door was her bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower/jet tub. She threw her green backpack into her closet, shrugged her uniform onto the floor and flopped onto her bed. _'I'll just take a short nap before the boys get here'_ she thought and immediately fell asleep.

Venus and Silver went up the stairs. Straight across from the landing was an area open to the great room below. To the left was a walk which put the open area on the right and another area open to the foyer below on the left.

Venus went to the right, stormed into her room and slammed her door shut. Her bed, dressed in lavender silk sheets, a black silk-covered comforter, and black and lavender silk pillows, was tucked into an indent in the wall that was straight across from the door. The wall behind it had a window that was painted black. In the black paint was silver that shimmered in the candlelight. Abstract. It took no specific form, but it was mesmerizing in the way that it seemed to be alive. On the right, tucked into an odd corner, was a silver metal desk. On it sat her black touchscreen laptop, a variety of novels, lit candles, a fish bowl housing a black Crowntail Beta fish named Rei, and many different drawings scattered all over. To the left of the door, was her bathroom which contained a separate toilet, a shower, two sinks, jet tub, and a walk-in closet with a generous amount of room.

She shucked her combat boots off and crawled under her covers. She was pissed that Ashlynn had just invited people over like that. Without asking more or less. She fumed about this for a few minutes. The painted wall above her bed seemed to become wild, more alive. It seemed angered as it writhed around on its flat surface. Venus inhaled a deep breath of cool air, calming herself. The wall seemed to slow its motions as well. She closed her eyes and was engulfed in silence and darkness.

Silver walked across the cast iron-railed walk, past the loft, and into a smaller hallway. The door on the right and at the end of the hall were locked. She opened the door on the left, walked in and shut the door behind her. Her bed was tucked into the corner on her right, a walk-in closet on her left, a window on the far wall and a door on the wall past the closet hid her bathroom with a shower/jet tub, sink and toilet.

She tossed her over-stuffed backpack next to her bed and went into the bathroom. With a simple wave of her hand, steaming water poured out of the tub faucet. She poured cherry blossom-flavored bath salts into the tub. She pressed a button next to the faucet and the jets went on with a whoosh, sending the scented water in relaxing spirals and white bubbles began to form. She took off her shoes and school uniform and slowly lowered herself into the hot water. She exhaled slowly as she began to untie her long silver braids. She hung Ashlynn's black bows over the edge of the tub and submerged herself beneath the surface covered in bubbles.

8:00 pm

Ashlynn stood in the kitchen, finishing the final touches on dinner. Silver was scuttling back and forth between the kitchen and dining room putting utensils, napkins and cups on the table; her black Converse making no noise on the wood floors. As she finished her final task, folding the napkins and placing them next to the square black plates, the doorbell rang.

"Silver, could you get that please!" Ash called from the kitchen. Silver went to the door and peeked through the peephole. Yuki, Haru and Kyo stood waiting for someone to answer. She yanked the door open, staring at them with her large blue eyes. They stared back.

"Come in." She said flatly. They all brushed past her, slipping off their shoes and hanging their coats on the iron rack next to the door. They stood in the foyer waiting for instruction. Silver rolled her eyes, "Follow me." They followed her into the dining room where they each took their assigned places; Ashlynn at the far end, Yuki and Kyo sat on one side with an empty chair between them, Haru and Silver on the other side, and an empty chair at the head; Venus's chair. Kyo and Haru at Venus's end, Yuki and Silver at Ashlynn's end.

"Silver could you go get her please." Just as she said that, Venus appeared in the doorway. "Or not. Venus, since you didn't help out with dinner, you get the pleasure of serving the food." Venus folded her arms and disappeared into the kitchen. She reappeared a minute later with the food balancing on a tray in her left hand. Without saying a word she placed food-covered plates in front of each person. The curtains in the dining room were now shut, muffling the sound of the pounding rain outside.

Placed before them was rice, chow mien, pork, steak, other various items and a special bowl of fried rice for Silver. "What would you all like to drink?" Venus asked as she took her tray into the dining room pantry. She reappeared with glasses for everyone on her tray and drifted into the kitchen. She returned with the tray and glasses. She placed a glass of milk in front of Kyo, a glass of steaming Earl Grey tea in front of everyone else and a glass of red liquid in front of her plate. Kyo gaped at her, utter shock on his face. He wondered how she knew what he wanted.

"You need to learn to conceal your emotions better Kyo-Kyo." Venus said. Kyo's face went blank as he turned to his food. Ashlynn glared at Venus with a 'don't even go there' look on her face.

"So…" Haru said as he shoved a huge amount of noodles in his mouth. Silence set in as everyone began to eat. Kyo began to slurp at his milk. Venus reached over and smacked the bottom of his jaw, slamming his mouth shut.

"Kyo-Kyo where are your manners?" Venus said disapprovingly.

"Stop calling me Kyo-Kyo!" Venus patted his head and took his milk.

"Now now, no more happy food if you can't behave." She teased. Kyo jumped up from his seat and went after Venus. Without realizing what happened, Venus had her knee in Kyo's back and her left hand pressing his face into the floor. Her right hand held his glass of milk. Ashlynn stood up.

"Venus!" she yelled. Venus poured the milk on Kyo's head.

"Oops, looks like I accidentally spilled!"

"Damn you! You stupid-" Venus smacked his across the face. She sat back in her seat looking very pleased with herself. Ashlynn shook her head. Kyo climbed back in his chair and angrily shoved food into his mouth, glaring at Venus through his peripheral vision.

"What is that?" Haru said, referring to Venus's drink. He picked it up, sniffed it and gagged.

"It's… ah… V8." Venus replied as she turned her sunglasses-covered gaze upon him.

"Don't they have an expiration date on these things? It smells horrible." He swirled the contents in the glass.

"How do you know it isn't supposed to smell that way?"

"Well it smells rotten to me."

"Your mom smells rotten to me…" She muttered under her breath.

"That's just plain disgusting." He said as he placed the glass back in front of Venus.

"You don't have to drink it, so mind your own business." She picked up her glass and chugged it. Haru looked totally repulsed as he watched her drink. She placed the empty glass back on the table.

"OK lets just get back to dinner." Ashlynn said. "No more unnecessary interruptions, Venus"

They all continued to eat as the minutes ticked by.

"What time is it?" Venus asked. Everyone had finished their meal and was letting it settle before desert.

"Almost 10:00" Yuki replied.

"Fuck!" Venus yelled. She slammed her utensils down and ran upstairs. She returned a few moments later still wearing her leather gloves and sunglasses, but now she had changed into black leather short-shorts and a sleeveless, collared, silk lavender button up vest that had a 'K' embroidered in a silver scrawling font on the left side of her chest. Underneath it was her name embroidered in small white print. At the time, her shirt was only buttoned up half-way, revealing part of a black bra. She also wore black leather stilettos with silver metal heels and her hair looked exactly the same.

"Off to work, sorry I have to leave." She said as she strutted past the dining room to the garage.

"You're not sorry." Ashlynn said.

Venus poked her head around the corner. "You're right. I'm not." And then she left. The others sat in silence as they listened to Venus's truck start up and peel out of the garage and down the road.

"Well good she's gone." Kyo remarked. Suddenly he froze as a steak knife sailed right past his head and stuck in the wall. "Holy shit! What the Hell was that?" he said as he looked back at the knife stuck in the wall. He turned back as Silver stormed out of the room and up the stairs. Ashlynn had buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking.

"Are you alright?" Yuki asked from his seat.

"I'm… fine… don't… worry." She said through gasps. Turns out she was trying not to laugh. Kyo looked (and was) completely confused. "Really, I'm fine." she said once she could breathe. "They just have a hard time…" She searched for the right word.

"Getting along with others? Controlling their tempers? Acting normal?" Kyo was throwing out random suggestions while Ashlynn glared at him.

"Yeah. Because having orange hair is totally normal." She spat out. "They just have a hard time adjusting to having other people in the house. Actually, Venus is just like that all the time. Been that way since we met her."

"What way?" Haru asked.

"Oh you mean how she acted tonight?" Haru nodded. "She's always been like that. Automatically hates people. No matter who it is. She doesn't trust people. She still doesn't trust us often. She'd rather be on her own than have the company of others. Sometimes she just disappears and doesn't come back for a long time. We don't worry about her though, she can take care of herself quite well.

"Sounds like someone else we know" Yuki shot a glare at Kyo who was trying to yank the steak knife out of the wall, but it held. Ashlynn went over and plucked it out off the wall with a simple flick of her wrist. Kyo sat back down in his chair and pouted.

"Pouty-puss." Ashlynn snorted. Kyo made a motion to get up and launch himself at her, but she waved the steak knife before him and settled back into his seat. After a bit of silence she said, "Movie?"

"Sure, why not. We have nothing better to do." Haru and Yuki got up and followed Ashlynn to the great room. She yanked open the large doors beneath the 60" plasma screen TV and gestured for the boys to pick a movie.

"How are we supposed to pick one! There have to be at least a hundred movies in there!" Kyo exclaimed as he wandered into the room.

"One hundred and forty two to be exact." She folded her arms in front of her. "I guess I'll pick one then." She pulled out Robin Hood: Men In Tights from the 'R' section (Venus just had to alphabetize them) and slipped the disk into the DVD player. The three boys sat on the long couch parallel to the TV, and Ashlynn sat in the love seat that was placed at an angle next to the other couch. She picked up the remote from off of the coffee table and pressed PLAY.

3:45am

The movie had long since ended and the four had fallen asleep where they sat.

Ashlynn, who had ended up sprawled across the seat, woke and stretched in a cat-like manner. The boys awoke as she let out a deep sigh. Silence again.

"So how long have you three lived here together?" Yuki spoke up. Haru leaned in with his elbows on his knees, hands folded together, and his chin resting on his knuckles. Kyo was listening too, but tried really hard not to show that he was. Venus really got to him.

"Well…" Ashlynn didn't seem to know what to say. "Silver and I have lived here our whole lives, but we were drifters. We wandered from city to city trying to make a living. It was going well, but we had to move from one house to another quite often. One day we lost everything. That was when Venus came in. She helped us out and now we have this house."

"She doesn't seem to be the type who would help others."

"Err… about that. We actually did something for her, so now as payment she has to help us. She says that it's according to her customs."

"Must have been one Hell of a deed you did for her in order for her to house you like this."

"Yeah it was. She brings the majority of the income. We help a bit too, but we still don't understand how she does it all herself."

"So, are you from this country? Or are your origins from elsewhere?"

"Silver and I are actually American citizens, but we were raised here. Venus on the other hand, I have no idea. Sometimes I wish I knew myself. Sometimes I think she is from another-"

"I'm from Italy, but I grew up in Romania. Though I did travel back and forth quite a bit." Venus said, her accent practically rolling off her tongue. She had appeared just about literally out of nowhere, causing Kyo, Yuki, and Haru to jump in surprise. Ashlynn stayed perfectly still. They hadn't even heard her drive up.

"Isn't that like, a part of Rome?" Kyo asked. You could just about literally see the steam coming off of Venus's head as she fumed.

"No!" She yelled. "Those are two completely different places!" She threw her arms up in the air and paced back and forth as she vented. "Romania is its' own country! Rome is a city in Italy!"

"Tough day at work?" Ashlynn asked. Venus flopped on top of her in the chair and sighed. "Venus, go put some more clothes on. It's not appropriate to be dressed like that in front of guests."

"Fine." She got up and stomped up the stairs. She came back down the stairs a few minutes later wearing black pajama pants, a red v-neck tank top, her leather gloves and her sunglasses. Her finger and toenails were painted black and her hair was wet.

"Why is your hair wet?" Kyo asked.

Venus stuck her face in his, "What? You've never heard of a girl taking a shower?"

"I'm… I just… how in… how could you take a shower that fast anyways!"

"Shut up…" Yuki and Haru sighed. "Just do us all a favor and… leave!" Venus yelled in his face.

"Venus! That's not polite!"

"You should know me better." Venus turned to Ashlynn and smirked. "I'm not one to play nice." she said, semi-quoting her friend from earlier the previous day.

"She is right though, it is about time for us to leave. Especially now that there is a break in the storm." Yuki said.

"Alright if you must." Ashlynn said. Venus followed Ashlynn to the door. The three followed as well and put on their jackets. Venus's lip was pulled up in a snarl as Kyo walked past. She growled a him. Kyo was about to retort, but Yuki grabbed his jacket and hauled him outside.

Ashlynn waved as the boys walked down the driveway. As soon as they rounded the corner, she slammed the door shut and turned to Venus.

"What the Hell was that all about!" She yelled. Venus's fists curled until her knuckles turned white. Her long black-coated nails dug into her skin. To the point where blood was drawn. Her nostrils flared as the scent filled them.

"Nothing…" she scoffed.

And with that, she stomped upstairs into her room, slamming the door as hard as she could without breaking it.

Downstairs, Ashlynn sighed as she flopped onto the couch where the boys once sat. She tuned over and lay face down, recoiling at the scent. It smelled like… a bunch of animals? She shook her head and sat up, crossing her legs. _'Venus must have had one of her many pets in the house recently...'_ she thought. She leaned forward, resting her head on her folded hands. The silence was overpowering. She got up and went into the kitchen to get some tea. A cup for herself, and another for Silver who she knew would still be up. She made her way upstairs with the steaming liquid.

A dim light filtered from beneath Silver's door. Ashlynn lightly knocked. There was no response so she quietly opened the door. Silver lay on her bed with a Fullmetal Alchemist manga in her hands and headphones in, no doubt listening to Avenged Sevenfold. Ash set the tea down on her bedside table and sat on the edge of her bed.

Silver didn't look up. Ashlynn sighed and stretched as she stood, careful not to spill her cup of tea. She walked out of the room, closing the door softly as she went. She continued downstairs and into her room. The bed called to her and she went to it. She covered herself in her blankets. _'I hope the boys got home alright. Oh, school in the morning… damn'_ she thought and she fell asleep. The cup of tea sat steaming on her bedside table, not a sip taken from it. The house sat in silence, all except the pounding of the rain.


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own any of the content relating to the original Fruits Basket. I do, however, own Venus, Ashlynn, and Silver, and any other content related to them as well._

**Chapter 2**

Ashlynn's Point of View

"Silver, dear, are you awake?" I had managed to wake up early yet again, much to my dismay. I had given a couple sharp raps upon Silver's door, but there was no answer. Silently I opened the door just enough for myself to peek in. Silver's bed in the corner was empty with the black blankets made in a neat fashion. I opened the door further to allow myself in. The bathroom door was open with the light off. I placed my hands upon my hips in thought. I had not heard Silver leave at all that morning. Perhaps she would be with Venus.

I quietly shut Silver's door and walked across the railed walk and down the hall to Venus's room. I banged my fist on the door, but just like with Silver, there was no answer. I took that as a cue to open the door; while being extremely cautious of course. I opened the door just an inch. Nothing was hurled at the opening door so I seized the moment and walked in.

Venus's room was in complete disarray as usual. Sketches, clothes, and papers with Venus's beautiful scrawled writing all across them were strewn all over the floor, desk and bed. Her bed itself was not made. It practically never was. The comforter was on the floor and the sheets were thrown completely back. It looked as though a war had erupted all on its own. My green eyes shifted to Venus's bathroom. Again, just like Silver, the door was open and the light was off. I sighed, said "Hello" to Rei, and left the room, shutting the door behind me.

With a huff I strutted down the hall, the stairs, then to my room. I contemplated to myself, wondering where the two could have gone to so early in the morning. Especially without telling me first or by me at least hearing them run off somewhere. They weren't usually the quietest duo in the world when they spent time together. I wiped the frustrated look from my face and slapped Good Charlotte's Good Morning Revival album into my stereo. The beat helped me to relax as I stripped off my pajamas and climbed into my school uniform. Who in their right mind would want to wear one of these, honestly?

The track changed to The River as I finished changing. As the song played, I sang along at the top of my lungs. I wasn't the best singer in the world, but hey no one is perfect. I slipped on my pair of DC's instead of the usual school shoe. They were a lot more comfortable anyhow. I turned up the volume and waltzed into my bathroom, bobbing my head to the beat. I skidded to a halt in front of the mirror and gaped at myself. My auburn-black wavy hair looked like a rat's nest. My face turned into a deep scowl as I grabbed my green brush and worked in through the knots.

Around ten minutes later, I finished. I ran my fingers effortlessly through my now sleek, silky hair. Yet something looked off. I turned side to side, trying to decide what to do with my hair today. I finally decided to just pull some of it back. I grabbed two white skull clips and stuck them in my hair just over my right ear to hold most of my bangs out of my face. A few wisps were too short and hung free, but I didn't mind that so much. I added a matching white choker with black beads and left my room.

In the kitchen, I could still hear my music playing thanks to the wireless system that Venus had hooked up. If you wanted to hear you music, but couldn't take your stereo with you, all you had to do was flip a certain switch in the living room and your music would be played throughout the house. Of course it was a problem with everyone wanting to hear different bands, but we manage to compromise… most of the time anyways. Venus uses that "It's my house, so it's my rules" excuse on us. Yet that didn't matter all the time because the three of us like most of the same music.

The track changed to Broken Hearts Parade as I began to make myself breakfast. What to make though? Pancakes, eggs and bacon sounded good to me. I got down on my knees and rummaged around in a cabinet underneath the counter for the frying pans. I managed to find two so I guessed that would have to do. I flicked on the gas stove and placed the pans on the flat-surfaced top. The Good Charlotte CD had ended so I danced over to my room to switch the CD to Green Day while the pans heated up. With Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) blasting through the speakers, I skipped back to the kitchen. If anyone besides Silver and Venus ever saw me skipping, I think the earth's body count just might raise a few numbers.

The pans were still heating up to the required temperature so I began to mix the batter. Don't we all love Bisquick. I put the flour-like substance into the bowl I had gotten out then added the recommended amount of milk, eggs, and the extra presence of dark chocolate chips. If Venus was here, she would have absolutely loved to mix it for me. Not to mention the fact that she would eat half of it in the process. Yet she was not present so I grabbed the whisk and began mixing.

Just as my arm began to ache from stirring so much, the doorbell rang. "Thank goodness." I said to myself as I slammed the bowl down and ran to the front door. I yanked it open to find Yuki, Kyo, and Haru standing there soaking wet.

"Good morning, Ashlynn." Yuki said with a slight bow. Haru copied him while Kyo stood there with his arms folded across his chest, looking quite gloomy might I add.

"Well good morning to you, too Yuki-kun, Haru-san and Kyo-kun. Uhm, come in?" I questioned, stepping back to allow them to step into the foyer.

"Thank you." Yuki said as he stepped inside, Haru and Kyo behind him. I shut the door as soon as they entered, clicking all the locks into position.

"I apologize about the music." I said as I gestured above my head to the Green Day CD playing through the speakers. You could almost feel the walls shaking. The song had long changed from the previous to Wake Me up When September Ends. The boys just shrugged. "Would you like breakfast or something to drink? I've made too much for just myself."

"What are you making?" Haru asked. Kyo still looked to be quite somber.

"Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Interested?" Haru and Yuki nodded politely while Kyo continued to remain silent. "What's wrong with him?" I asked as I nodded my head toward Kyo. "You know, you're lucky Venus isn't here. She would have a field day with your attitude."

That got him to perk up a bit.

"I'll have some too." He said, though clearly not pleased. I nodded, pleased with myself.

"Where is Venus?" Haru asked as we walked into the kitchen. I went to my post at the stove while the other three loomed around me. Kyo slumped against the wall, Yuki stood in the nook and silently looked out the window while Haru took a bar stool to sit at the island and watch me.

"She and Silver… I don't know. They are not home. I checked on them earlier and neither of them were in their rooms. I have no idea where they disappeared to." I bet I sounded very worried to him because that was what I sounded like to myself.

"You're worried about them?" Yes, he was right on the mark. I nodded. "Well… you said Venus could take care of herself, right? Shouldn't she be able to watch out for Silver?" He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table while I flipped the pancakes over.

"Yes, that's correct. Silver can take care of herself too, but I'm not sure of what Venus does while she disappears. I don't want anything to happen to either of them, but most of all… I don't want one of them to get in trouble or hurt at the hands of the other."

"What do you mean?" he paused for a moment, looking down at the stove. "What exactly does Venus do?

"That's my point. I have no idea what she does. I know Silver goes a few towns over to the bookstore when she needs something new to read or just needs to get away for a while. But Venus, sometimes I really worry. It's probably none of my business, but I have a feeling that one day she is going to get herself into deep shit."

"I see…" I guess he had nothing else to ask at the moment.

"Is the food ready yet?" Kyo seemed to be getting back to his old self. I turned sharply to face him.

"It will be ready when I say it's ready." I spat out as I waved the steaming hot spatula in front of his face. He raised his hands up and went back to leaning against the wall.

"Where do you think they would have gone?" Haru asked me. I shook my head.

"I really don't know. I didn't even hear them leave this morning. And I usually do." That was when a light bulb flickered on in my head. If there would have been one atop my head, the boys would have been blinded by it. I put the last of the pancakes onto the plate and stuck it into the microwave to keep them warm. "Help yourself. I will be back to finish in just a moment."

I pointed to the overhead cabinet which contained our black plates then rushed over to the garage. I flung the door open and let out an extremely frustrated groan. Venus's black truck, black mustang, and Silver's metallic silver mustang were all occupying their parking slots. I held the door open while I continued to think, my eyes on my black and white motorcycle.

I slammed the door shut and stormed back into the kitchen. I wondered why I didn't hear them leave this morning. Those V8 engines were loud as Hell. Especially with the way Venus had them pumped up. She had her own mustang up to around 600 horsepower at the moment, maybe more. I didn't hear them simply because they did not leave in that fashion. I was stumped now.

I used making breakfast to vent my frustration. Those eggs would never have been whipped so hard in their life if they had ever gotten past this frying pan. The scrambled eggs hit the pan with a loud hiss, causing the sulking Kyo to jump. I couldn't help but laugh as he glared.

Yuki grabbed the bacon and began to slice it. I looked up and smiled my thanks. When he finished, I took the strips and placed them in the other pan. They hit it with an even louder hiss. The eggs cooked much more quickly than the bacon so I served that first. Everyone's plates sat on the other side of the stove for me to do so. The bacon finished up right behind the eggs. I placed a few slices on everyone's plate and we took them to the dining room.

When the silence set in and all I could hear was the sound of jaws grinding, I realized that my CD had stopped playing. So we continued to eat in silence; until the rain started up again. We all turned to look out the window. The sky was completely gray and only getting darker. The rain came down in sheets. No, more like blankets, comforters. I couldn't even see half way down the driveway. The towering pine trees looked like giant, black, fuzzy dusters looming ominously on the other side of our private road.

I turned back to see Kyo sink lower in his seat. He continued to poke at his food which annoyed me. If I was to cook for someone, they better eat the damn food or else I will make them. He glanced up at me. I must have had one Hell of a look on my face because he began shoveling the food into his mouth. I tilted my head down to my food as a smirk spread across my face.

We all had finished our breakfast and taken our plates to the kitchen. I cleaned up the breakfast mess and went to my room while the three boys remained at the table.

I turned off my stereo and stared at it for a moment. I really wish that I did not have to go to school. The yawn that erupted at that moment reminded of what little amount of sleep I had. I groaned as I finished my yawn and snapped my mouth shut. My feet dragged across the floor as I scooted toward my closet. I leaned on the door frame as I yawned again. My lack of sleep was getting the best of me and I didn't like it. I reached down, grabbed my backpack and swung it over my shoulder. I left my closet in its open position as I exited my room, shutting my door.

My dragging feet caused me to stumble as I walked down the hall. With a thud, my shoulder hit the wall and I put my hands on it to brace myself. My head spun and I was blinded momentarily as I was hit with a severe head rush. When the dizzy feeling resided, I opened my eyes to find Kyo standing in front of me with a hand on my shoulder.

"What do you want?" I snapped. I didn't mean to. He was only trying to help after all. It was just my natural response to the fact that someone actually wanted to help me for once.

"You shouldn't go running into walls like that." He bluntly stated. I rolled my eyes at him as I pushed past him and walked back into the kitchen. I felt my face twisting about. I was clearly frustrated with myself. I absolutely hated when other people, besides Venus and Silver, saw me in this condition. I hated when people saw me as weak.

I made my way to the fridge, using the counter tops and walls to balance. I could feel Kyo's presence in the room. You could just feel the swirling emotions. Not to mention how they collided with mine. I didn't like it one bit. I opened the fridge, trying my best to push him out of my mind as I rummaged about.

A smirk spread across my face as I located Venus's stash in the very back of the fridge. I pulled out a Monster energy drink and clicked the lid open. This was just what I needed. Venus would just have to cope with the fact that I was taking one of her precious life supports.

"What is that?" Kyo asked. I turned and gaped at him.

"You've never had a Monster before?" I half asked and half shouted. He shook his head.

"Never." Way to be short and to the point. I turned back to the fridge and grabbed another Monster. I threw it at him when I turned back around.

"Try it." I said with that smirk still upon my face. "You'll love it." Well maybe he wouldn't, but I didn't really care at the moment. Now Venus would have to deal with two of her lives gone.

Not like she didn't have cases of them in the fridge. Not like she couldn't just go out and buy more. Not like I cared, once again.

I broke off from my thoughts and turned my gaze back to Kyo. He had polished off the whole can. I couldn't help but laugh. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?" He asked, practically yelling.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." I continued to giggle to myself as I turned away and shut the fridge. He sure as Hell would be feeling that later. Then would come the crash. That was the best part.

When I turned back around, I was hit full force with his emotions. Colors swirled around me. There were only different shades of red and blue which told me that he was feeling angry, frustrated, confused, or all of the above. Kyo was a very clear broadcaster when it came to his emotions.

I clamped my eyes shut and did a few deep breathing exercises. I see why Venus does this all the time. It actually does help calm the nerves. If that was even possible for her. When I reopened my eyes, the colors were completely missing from my vision. Though I could still feel them probing and vibrating inside my mind. I did my best to ignore them.

"I suppose it is time that we leave this place." I said as I glanced at the large stainless steel clock that was mounted on the red kitchen walls. It read about ten until seven. I assumed that I would be walking with the boys to school today considering Silver was not here to accompany me.

Yuki entered the kitchen followed by Haru. A sudden cracking noise echoed through the silence causing us all to jump. All four of our gazes turned to the nook windows. I couldn't help but smile slightly as we all let out an exasperated sigh at the same exact time.

"Or maybe not." I said, the sentence coming halfway out as a question. "I don't think we will be making it to school today." I forced myself to sound disappointed, but deep, deep, deep down inside I wanted to run around like a little kid and scream, "Yes!"

We all gazed out the window. The sky looked practically black. I couldn't see across the driveway anymore. Not even the silhouette of the pine trees could be seen. With all of us silent, I could hear the rain pounding against the house. My thoughts traveled back to my girls. I began to deeply worry about Silver and Venus again. I felt like a mother goose who misplaced her goslings.

"I think it would be best if you three were to stay here. Until the weather lightens up enough for you to walk home anyways. Venus would kill me if I touched one of her babies. I think Silver might do the same. My motorcycle only seats one." I began babbling as I trudged off toward my room. It was just too early in the morning for me. Just a few more hours of sleep would be nice.

I then realized that the boys hadn't moved. I turn and dragged my feet back to the kitchen.

"Make yourselves at home." I said as I waved my hands above my head. "Just don't… don't touch what you don't have to. I don't want Venus eating anyone."

They all laughed at what I said. I didn't. Seeing the serious look on my face, they stopped.

"I'm going to go back to sleep. If Silver and or Venus come home, someone wake me up." They all nodded as I turned and practically sleep walked to my room. I was hardly aware of myself as I removed my horrid school uniform and crawled into my cozy bed. The last thing I remembered hearing was someone flop on the couch, another rummaging through the kitchen, and the other stomping up the stairs. I hoped that they wouldn't do anything stupid as I drifted off to sleep.

I violently woke to someone shouting. I thought it was Kyo trying to get at Yuki again, but then I realized… Venus was home. Whoever she was mad at was seriously in for it.

I figured that she must be upstairs because her words were muffled. I shot out of bed like a rocket when I heard something collide with a wall.

"Venus!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ran up the stairs. My throat became a bit scratchy after I did so. I slid to a halt and ducked as a boot came hurdling in my direction.

"You bitch!" she screamed at me. "You let them into my house!"

"Venus, calm down!" I knew that there was no reasoning with her, but I had to try.

"Don't tell me to calm down! This is not your house to invite people into, it's mine!" She continued to scream at me. I was deathly afraid that she was going to lose it this time. "And you!" She pointed at Haru with a dagger clutched in one hand and a hard cover book in the other. "Get your ass out of my fucking room!"

"Make me." Haru flatly stated as he leaned one shoulder against the door frame.

"Haru, you might want to listen to her." I said as I tugged on his arm. I was shocked as he smacked my hand away. I widened my eyes at him, slightly shocked. This didn't seem like the Haru I had seen so many times around school.

"Make me." He repeated. "Or are you just going to stand there and yell empty threats at me?"

"Don't mind if I do." Venus was in it to win it, she was in for the kill. I glanced at Haru who refused to move. Was his hair darker? I turned to look down the hall. Where was Silver?

"Yuki, Kyo! You might want to get up here!" I yelled down the hall. "Now!" I added. Haru was about to launch at Venus who had her hands held up, ready for whatever he would dish out. He crouched and launched, and while in mid air, he was tackled to the ground by Yuki and Kyo. I hadn't even heard them coming up behind me.

I took that as my chance to grab Venus. I jumped behind her and pulled her arms up tightly behind her back. I knew this was dangerous, but I wouldn't or couldn't let her get a hold of any of the three.

"Yuki, Kyo, take Haru and leave." I demanded. Venus struggled against me, her strength threatening to snap my forearms. I was hardly strong enough to hold her, it usually took both Silver and I to contain her. She continued to verbally lash out at him as Yuki and Kyo dragged him out of her room.

"Let me go Ashlynn, I'm not done with his worthless ass!" She was just taunting him now. I knew if Yuki and Kyo would not have been in the house… Well, I would have been in for it. Haru was struggling against his restraints as well, but he was semi-allowing himself to be dragged out of the house.

I waited until I heard the front door slam shut before I released Venus's arms. I sank to the floor as I held my arms to myself. They ached terribly. I hadn't even blinked and Venus was already gone, down the stairs and to the front door.

I stood and hobbled down the stairs, heading straight for the kitchen. I rummaged around in a drawer and found what I was looking for. Pain killers worked miracles in this house.

I looked up as I slammed the drawer shut to see Venus standing with her arms folded in the doorway. Her stance was wide and clearly furious. I could tell that she was battling inside herself. Her eyes were flickering back and forth from pitch black to her usual ice blue. She was battling the wolf inside. They seemed to favor black at the moment. I had to be careful of what I said to her now.

"Where is Silver?" I asked. That couldn't be too upsetting.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know!" She shouted as she threw her arms up in the air.

"Alright, alright we'll just have to find her then." I offered.

"You go find her!" She shouted again as she stormed out of the kitchen and flopped on the couch. I heard the TV flicker on, the sound of a DVD being inserted into the player, and the beginning of Hot Fuzz following it. She had an obsession with that movie, I swear.

Yet I guess that meant that I was required to go search for Silver. Once Venus set her mind to something, there was no changing it. Well… you probably didn't want to try to change it. Not like I would know. Silver would have gone into a mock coughing fit right there if I had said that out loud and if she was here with me.

Now the only question left was… where do I look for Silver? I sat at one of the stools at the kitchen island and rested my forehead on the cool granite counter tops. I was starting to get a headache and the cool rock felt nice; extremely blissful.

My thoughts began to drift back to the boys that I had so hurriedly pushed from my home. The sound of the pounding rain made me wonder if they had made it safely. I would be able to find out tomorrow if the weather lightened up.

A knock at the door caused me to jump from my deep thoughts. I heard Venus growl and throw the remote to the ground.

"Don't even think about it!" I yelled as I leaped down from the stool. I didn't want her doing whatever she felt like doing right now to whoever was on the other side of that door. "You keep your ass on that couch. Don't even think about getting up. I will answer the door."

"Good, I didn't want to answer it anyways." She retorted. Typical.

I opened the door to find a soaking wet Yuki and Kyo standing in front of me. I was about to greet them when-

"Look at you, Orangey! You're all wet!" Venus popped up behind me and yelled right in my ear. Apparently she thought this was funny. OK, OK, I thought so too, but not as much as her. She started laughing to herself as she flaunted off toward the other room. I didn't really care where she went off to. She was out of my ear and that was all that mattered.

"I believe this is yours?" Yuki said, half saying it as a question. He stepped back to allow Silver to step forward and into the dry, warm house. She hung her black fedora on the rack by the door as she did so.

"Thank you Yuki, Kyo." I gazed at them a bit longer. "I'm guessing Haru is home?"

The two nodded. Well, Kyo looked more like he was dozing off.

"Yes," Yuki continued. "We passed her on the way home. Haru didn't want to walk back so he just kept walking home."

"Thanks… Would you like to come in, again?"

"Just for a bit would be wonderful. That is if it is alright with Venus."

I saw a hand wave from over the back of the couch so I assumed that to be a 'whatever' sort of gesture. That was probably all we were going to get from her now. Maybe some more yelling too…

I allowed the boys to step in and I shut the door behind them.

"Make yourself comfortable." I added. They hung their coats and slipped their muddy shoes off.

"Silver, what is that?" I asked, pointing to the bag that I just noticed she was holding.

"I found dicks!" She yelled, pulling one out. Next thing I knew, Venus was next to us, digging through the bag. She pulled one out and gazed at the yellow and red wrapping. On it said 'rellerindos'. Ripping off the candy wrapper and tossing it aside, she shoved the whole thing in her mouth.

"Oh my Johnny Christ!" She managed to moan out. "This is so… so… oralgasmic!" She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, the boys' multiple-expression-holding faces staring the whole time.

"Venus… look what else I got."

"Whoa, wait! Let me get out of the room first!" I tossed my hands up in the air and squeezed my way out of the foyer. Yuki and Kyo followed without me having to ask.

"Kids! We can have orgies!" Silver and Venus shouted in unison from the other room as they tore open a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

"Oh no…" I mumbled to myself as I pulled a grape Popsicle out of the freezer as I heard them muttering something about being creepers and or pedophiles, knowing what Hell I would be in for later after they had consumed every piece of their candy.


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own any of the content relating to the original Fruits Basket. I do, however, own Venus, Ashlynn, and Silver, and any other content related to them as well._

**Chapter 3**

Ashlynn jolted awake, her eyes snapping open when the sound of screaming and a loud 'clang!' rang through her eardrums. She sat up so fast that her head spun._ 'It's the weekend.'_ she thought, _'I should _not _be up this early...' _She pressed a hand to her forehead and steadied herself in an upright position while the sensation quickly faded. Leaping from her bed, she threw her bedroom door open and dashed down the hallway toward the main part of the house.

"It's there, Venus, there!" She heard Silver scream from the kitchen. Ashlynn groaned deeply, wondering what the pair could have gotten into this early in the morning. She slid into the kitchen doorway and her jaw dropped.

Silver stood on her tip-toes on the island in the middle of the kitchen and Venus was crouched upon one of the stools at the island. One hand gripped the edge of the stool while the other held a frying pan above her head. Venus didn't notice that Ashlynn was now present, or at least that's was Ash thought.

Her eyes were glued to something on the floor. Ashlynn followed her gaze to see nothing. At first anyways. That was when Venus sprung off the stool with a growl and slammed the frying pan onto the floor, forcing Ashlynn to cover her ears because of the noise it made. Venus, now crouched on the ground, peeked under the frying pan.

"Victory!" She wailed, springing to her feet. Silver applauded, bouncing on the top of the island. Venus waved the frying pan in the air, spinning around in a sort of victory dance that she did on occasion.

"What the... What are you two doing? Do you even know what time it is?" Ashlynn yelled, her lungs straining. Venus and Silver froze in place, slowly turning to face the green-eyed girl.

"Well..." Venus starting, scratching the back of her head. "I got it!" She thrust the bottom of the frying pan in Ashlynn's face, revealing the remnants of a tiny spider. Ashlynn felt her eyebrows pull before she let out a shrill scream. She jumped back, nearly flying actually, away from Venus and her frying pan.

"Get that out of my face! Get it away from me! You know I hate spiders!" Ashlynn's eyes widened as they darted over to glare at Silver who began nodding violently in agreement, still standing on the island. The two liked to say they were fearless, but this proved that theory wrong. Completely wrong. "Get... Get rid of that!" She yelled as she snatched the frying pan from Venus's outstretched arm and threw it into the sink with a loud clang. She growled as she spun on her heel and ran back to her bedroom, flailing her arms about, muttering, "Ew, spiders, so gross, ewewewew I hate spiders..." the whole way there. Venus and Silver glanced at each other and then down the hall. As soon as they heard Ashlynn's door slam shut, they burst into laughter.

They stopped abruptly when Venus put a finger to her lips. From down the hallway came, "Don't think I can't hear your two laughing out there!" Then the door slammed again. Venus turned to look at Silver with a large smile upon her face.

"I totally knew that was coming." She said quietly, taking a seat upon one of the bar stools. Silver smiled back and jumped down from the island, then climbed into the seat next to her friend.

"Still, I don't think you should have shoved the spider in her face like that. You know how she feels about spiders. She might even hate them more than I do." Silver's face had gone completely serious. She wasn't sure who hated spiders more; herself or Ashlynn. Venus groaned and slumped in her seat, nearly sliding off. "You should say sorry."

"But I'd be lying." Venus replied, her icy blue eyes showing no emotion. "You know that."

"Well let's go do something for her then?" Silver suggested, looking around the kitchen. Her gaze settled upon a piece of paper that was stuck to the fridge with a magnet. She hopped up off of the stool and made her way to the fridge. She looked at the note and smiled, slipping it out from underneath the magnet. "Shall we go shopping?"

"You're kidding me, right?" Venus breathed, turning to look at the shopping list that Silver was holding up.

"Nope!" She giggled in response. "Let's go! The store should be open by now. I'm driving!"

That was that. Venus slid the rest of the way off her stool and trudged into the garage after her friend. They hopped into Silver's silver Ford Mustang GT500 and peeled out of the garage and off of the lot. Silhouettes of trees flew by as she sped down the forest road and disappeared and she slowed to the speed limit as she drove into town. She eased to a stop in a parking slot right in front of the grocery store and looked at Venus. "Shall we?"

"Let's get this over with." She said, slipping out of the car. Silver did the same.

"Alrighty! Where shall we start?" Silver said as the duo walked toward the front of the store. She glanced around, taking in the dim light that was coming from the barely-risen sun and the awkward silence that hung around them. It was only about a quarter after nine, so the store seemed to be quite empty as well.

"How about with a cart." Venus said, her voice very monotonous. Silver nodded and Venus walked over to the giant cart trains. She kicked one, then moved on to the next one, kicking it as well. "This one looks good..." she muttered to herself. She hated carts with squeaky wheels or carts that veered off to one side if you didn't hold them steady.

"May I?" Silver said as Venus walked up to her with the cart.

"You may." Venus responded back and Silver hopped into the cart and sat down. Venus sighed and walked through the automatic doors and into the store.

"I think we should start off with..." Silver paused for a moment as she read down the list of groceries that needed to be bought. "Let's start off with the produce section I guess."

"Okay." Venus said as she veered the cart to the left, toward the produce, her solid black low pro Vans making not a single sound on the tile floor.

"Okay. The list says we need lettuce, cucumber, radishes, avocados, watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, apples, oranges, lemons and limes-"

"Whoa, whoa! Hold up there, I can only concentrate on so many things!" Venus interrupted.

"Sorry V." Silver giggled. "Lettuce, cucumber, radishes and avocados first." Venus nodded and walked over to the area where each item was stacked and picked a few that looked ripe.

"Now what?" Venus asked, and Silver read off the rest of the produce section of the list. They quickly got everything they needed from there and moved on to the rest of the items that were needed. Venus stood on the back of the cart and pushed it around the store with one foot while Silver read everything that was on the list from nasty leeks to chocolate ice cream.

"Hey V?" Silver asked as she tilted her head backwards and looked up at Venus, who just looked back down at her shopping buddy in some form of an acknowledgment. "We should get some flour too, I think we are almost out even though it's not on the list."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Venus replied as she turned the cart around and raced toward the other end of the grocery store. "Where is it?" She asked, clearly not seeing where the flour was. She wasn't usually the one that went shopping for groceries.

"Flour is..." Silver looked up from the list and looked around. "There!" She exclaimed, pointing to a small section up against a back wall next to the cooking oils and such. Venus nodded and raced off toward the flour. Next thing she knew, her feet slipped out from underneath her and the cart was speeding off toward the wall of flour. The cart, with Silver still in it, hit the bags with a muffled _bang! _and a cloud of white powder exploded into the air. Venus went sliding across the floor and into the flour cloud, hitting the cart.

When they could both see again, they brushed as much flour from their faces as they could and looked around. There was flour everywhere. Venus, who was laying flat on her back, looked up at Silver who was now straightening herself up in the cart. They both looked back to see what had happened. On the floor, only visible now that flour was covering it, was vegetable oil from a bottle on the shelf that had spilled. The girls looked up as "Clean up on aisle five! Kyo Sohma, clean up on aisle five!" came over the loudspeaker and the two burst into laughter.

They stopped laughing abruptly when Kyo rounded the corner with a mop and bucket. He halted when he looked up and saw Venus and Silver sitting there, covered head to toe in flour. The look on his face went from slightly irritated to extremely irritated.

"Kyo-Kyo! I didn't know you worked here!" Venus laughed out, sitting up with a bit of difficulty seeing that she was slick with oil. Kyo just looked down and clenched the handle of his mop.

"Don't... call me Kyo-Kyo!" He ground out when he looked back up at the girls. Venus cocked one eyebrow and smirked at him which didn't seem to help his mood at all. "Out of the way," he said as he stepped forward and pushed the Silver-containing cart out of the way and began mopping. "Now I have to clean up your mess..." He stuck the mop into the bucket and swirled it around before he took it out and slapped it onto the floor next to Venus, splattering her with soap suds, and began mopping.

"Watch yourself Orangey." Venus spat as she stood and knocked a ripped bag of flour off of the shelf and onto the already beyond-filthy floor, making more of a mess for Kyo to clean up. She looked down her nose at him as he glared into her icy blue eyes. She scoffed and spun on her heel and returned to the cart. Silver was about to speak up and Venus cut her off, "Don't you dare say a word." Silver pursed her lips and rolled her eyes as Venus turned the cart and headed toward the checkout lines.

Venus's slender hands gripped the handlebar of the shopping cart as she walked toward the checkout lines. Despite the fact that she was covered nearly head to toe in vegetable oil and flour, she managed not to lip and fall again. Silver sat in the the cart with her arms folded across her chest. She and everything in the cart were dusted with the white powder. Yuki's and Haru's eyes widened as they froze in place, staring at the girls.

"Don't look at us like that!" Silver snapped as her brows furrowed together. Haru averted his gaze and went back to organizing the bags while Yuki just smiled sweetly and took his place at the register. Silver began tossing all of the flour-coated groceries on the belt for him to scan. Venus just stood there leaning against the handle of the cart, eyes narrowed, fuming to herself.

"So..." Haru started, not quite sure if he should ask or not. "What happened?"

"One of you didn't do your job, that's what happened." Venus said, not bothering to process her thoughts before she let them leave her lips.

"That would be Kyo." Haru laughed. Venus narrowed her icy blue eyes at him. He raised his hands like a white flag. "I give. Paper of plastic?"

"Paper please." Silver said as she finished putting all of the groceries on the belt and dusted her hands off as best as she could. Haru nodded and began packing the dirty groceries into paper bags. "Man, V, Ash isn't gonna be too happy about this mess. At all. You know that?"

"Yeah I know." Her voice was monotonous as she spoke. "And we'll be stuck cleaning it up." Silver groaned. That was not something she wanted to do at the moment. Or at all.

"We could come help after work if you'd like." Yuki offered. Haru nodded in agreement.

"Though I don't think Kyo would be too thrilled..." Haru added, a slight smile on his face. Venus couldn't help but smirk at him. She liked that part. There was something about Kyo... She just got a kick out of ticking him off. Not like it was a hard thing to do, but she still enjoyed it.

"That would be kind of you." Silver agreed, looking to Venus. "Right, V?" Venus grinned a full grin that was rarely seen. Her teeth were oddly sharp, perfectly straight, and pearly white. Silver, Yuki, and Haru all grinned in return. If Venus was happy, there's no doubt that everyone else was happy.

"Alright, we'll be there when our shift is over then." Yuki said as he went to subtotal the order. "It will probably be around..." He thought to himself for a moment. "Probably around noon, is that alright?"

"Yes, that's. It'll give us time to complete our shopping." Silver replied.

"And time for us to try to sneak in without Ashlynn seeing us covered in flour like that." Venus put in, the smirk lingering in her voice even though it was no longer placed on her face. Silver rolled her eyes, but laughed as well.

"Alright, we'll see you at noon then." Yuki said with a soft smile as he rang up their last few items. Haru quietly bagged them and placed them in the dirty cart.

"I've got this V." Silver said, pushing her friend back as she stepped up to pay.

"You sure?" Venus raised an eyebrow and popped one hip out to lean again the checkout counter. Silver just nodded and kept going with the process. Venus just rolled her eyes and leaned an elbow against the counter, propping her chin up on her palm. Nonchalantly, she attempted to blow her bangs from her face, but they ended up falling back in front of her eyes again.

"Would you like help out with that?" He asked, gesturing to the cart. Silver looked around as she finished paying and shrugged.

"If you're not too busy." Haru nodded and pulled the cart in front of him. Silver and Venus followed behind, their arms hooked at the elbow. Carefully, Silver pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. Instead of finding the time when she flipped it open she was greeted with an urgent text from Ashlynn. '_Where are you? And V?_' it said. "V..." Silver started out loud, not sure of what to say, "I think this is going to be hard to get by Ash now."

"We're in for a verbal ass whooping, aren't we?" Venus hung her head as she spoke. Silver nodded solemnly. Venus sighed in return. "That's a mega mood killer." She muttered as Haru turned around to look at them.

"She knows?" Haru asked. Silver and Venus exchanged glances.

"Not yet." Venus said, "But she will soon enough."

As they walked out the automatic doors, Silver pointed to her silver Mustang and walked towards it. She slipped the keys out of her messenger bag and remote-unlocked the car, popping the trunk with the key as well. Venus followed Haru around to the back of the car and began unloading the groceries with him.

"Nuh-uh!" Venus snapped at her friend as she came around to help too. "You paid. I'm unloading."

"But that's what Haru's for." Silver replied, crossing her arms. Venus copied her, raising one eyebrow. Silver rolled her eyes, "Fine." and hopped into the driver's seat.

"I always get what I want." Venus jokingly said to Haru, sticking her tongue out as she placed the bags of flour in the trunk. Standing up straight, she dusted off her hands, letting Haru load the last few paper bags into the car. Finished, he straightened and looked Venus over from head to toe. She had gotten the worst of the mess after she had slid across the oil on the floor. The flour stuck like glue.

"You look ridiculous." He said after a few seconds, shutting the trunk.

"I've looked worse." She couldn't help but smirk at him, if only a little.

"Alright," He laughed. "I'll see you when we head over after work then. See you later too, Silver." He added, leaning down to wave at Silver through the back window. She looked in the rear view mirror and waved back. Venus slid into the passenger seat and buckled in as her friend fired up the engine. Haru waved from the front of the store and they backed out of the parking space and peeled out of the lot.

"I think he likes you." Silver said after a couple minutes of silence.

"I think not. He hardly knows me." Venus scoffed, turning her hard gaze upon her friend. "No one likes me."

"I like you." Silver replied. "So does Ashlynn."

"Well that's just you." Venus rolled her eyes and leaned against the door. "You kind of have to." She muttered. It was Silver's turn to roll her eyes.

"Whatever. You'll get it one day. Not everyone is out to get you." She said. Venus snorted, but said nothing in return. The rest of the car ride, and the rest of the shopping trip, was spent in silence.

As the duo drove home, the weather remained in its bi-polar state. It would rain, then stop, drizzle, then stop, unleash it's fury, then stop again. They remained silent, even though it was so unlike them. Avenged Sevenfold wasn't even pumping through the speakers, and that was saying something. They liked their music, and they liked it loud. But instead, the car was dead silent. Almost enough to make it awkward.

Silver slowly drove her metallic silver car down the tree-lined drive, dodging puddles and fallen branches. She knew Venus was no doubt getting irritated at the snail pace, but Silver wasn't about to go and risk dinging up her car by recklessly flying down the gravel driveway. Venus all but spontaneously combusted by the time they made it to the house. Silver remoted the garage door open and pulled in. Shutting her car off, she leaned back in her seat and sighed.

"I'm not looking forward to this..." She muttered as she attempted to move her flour-and-oil-slicked hair out of her face. Venus just grunted her agreement, then unbuckled herself and got out of the car. She went around to the trunk, rapped on it twice, and Silver popped the hatch. After opening it, Silver came around to the back and helped V with the groceries. They each grabbed some of the paper bags and headed toward the door that led inside. As Silver was about to open the door with her elbow, the door was flung open.

"What the..." Ashlynn gaped at them for a split second before her brows furrowed together. Shaking her head, she said, "Don't! Don't say a fucking word, I don't want to know what kind of trouble you two got into so early in the morning. _Again. _Just go inside and take a fucking shower. I'll deal with your mess..."

"Yes, mom..." Venus and Silver muttered in unison and they marched past Ashlynn and went into the kitchen. They dropped the bags by the island and headed upstairs to take their showers.

Once Silver hit the second story landing, she darted for her bedroom. Partially because she really wanted the shower, and partially because she wanted to get away from Venus and her rage. She could practically feel it rolling off of the girl, and that was not a good thing. Not at all. Bad things tended to happen when Venus got mad, among other things. Slipping into her bedroom and locking the door behind her, she immediate stripped off her dirty clothes. She dropped them into the sink as she went into her bathroom and shut the door. Using one hand, she turned on her shower as she began to undo her braids with the other. By the time she had her hair all brushed out and tangle free, the shower was steaming hot. She grabbed a navy blue towel and hung it on the knob next to the shower door before she opened it. Wincing for a second as the hot water touched her foot, she braced herself as she slowly eased into the steaming stream that rushed from the shower head on the ceiling.

After a few minutes of standing in the water, she deemed herself relaxed enough. Bending down, she picked up her shampoo, squeezed a bunch into the palm of her hand, and massaged it into her hair. After rinsing all of the suds, she repeated with the conditioner. Stepping out of the water, she picked up her body wash and squeezed a small amount onto her scrub sponge and began to move lather it over her skin. She sighed deeply as the aroma of pomegranate and berries drifted into the air. She almost didn't want to wash the soap off, but she had no choice. She knew Ash could use her help, even if her friend was in a bad mood. And she also knew that there was no way in Hell that Venus was going to be back downstairs any time soon. So Silver set to rinsing off her body wash and the conditioner out of her hair. When she was done, she reluctantly turned the shower off, squeegied the glass dry, and stepped out of the shower. She quickly toweled herself try, then wrapped her hair up in the towel.

Glancing in the mirror, Silver smudged what was left of her makeup away and left the bathroom. Standing completely naked except for the towel on her head, she placed her hands on her hips and looked around. Clothes. What to wear? She usually didn't have a problem choosing clothes, but that was either because she was forced to wear her school uniform or it was just going to be Ashlynn and Venus in the house. Yuki, Kyo, and Haru were coming over later to help with what she and Venus had shopped for though, she she couldn't lounge around in pajamas. She had a feeling that they would be staying for dinner, too. After all Ash would want to repay them for helping. So she set her mind to the daunting task of finding something to wear for the evening.

Across the house, Venus had stormed into her room, slamming the door shut with so much force that the walls shook. She stripped her clothes off as she walked, leaving them in a trail on her floor leading to the bathroom. She didn't bother to shut her bathroom door as she went in. Looking around, she went over to the counter and gripped the edges, bracing herself against it. Taking her sunglasses off and setting them on the counter, she glared at her dirty reflection in the mirror. Her body was like one giant oil slick. Flour and her hair clung to her bare skin and her makeup was smeared to the point where she looked more like a rabid coon. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, but the image wouldn't go away. She was a mess, inside and out, and she hated it. Her icy blue eyes stared back at her. They were lighter than normal, but still normal. So that was a good sign, right? Growling, she lurched away from the counter and willed herself to walk over to her shower.

Hands trembling, she turned her shower on and stepped in, not able to remember whether she shut and locked her door or not. Stepping under the rush of the water, she ignored the sting as her makeup ran into her eyes. Instead she cranked the water temperature as cold as it would go in hopes that the chill would clear her crowded mind. Something inside of her was taunting her, whispering vile things in the back of her mind. Unable to control her actions, her vocal cords let out a growl. It ripped from her throat, echoing against the black marble. She slammed her fists against the slick walls and slammed her eyes shut, trying to push the feeling of what was coming away. A tingle ran up her spine and spread across her back, itching furiously. Grabbing her scrub brush, she loaded on the body was and began to attack her back with the hard bristles. But no matter how hard she scrubbed, the itching feeling wouldn't go away. She had to calm down. She just had to.

Downstairs, Ashlynn was dragging the shopping items in bag by bag. Venus and Silver had bought more than what was on the list, but it didn't matter. They would use it all anyways. Especially if V got into one of her moods. She would end up having to go shopping all over again. Venus liked to cook and bake up a storm if the conditions were right. Ash went back out to the garage and grabbed the last bag. She heaved the bag out and shut the trunk, the walked off balance to the door leading inside. She pressed a button on the wall and watched to make sure the garage door finally shut before waddling back into the house. Glancing around, she eyed the dozens of paper bags on the floor and island counter. Just as she was about to dig into the bags, a soft knock on the door brought her movements to a halt.

Sighing, she dropped her hands to the side and shuffled over to the door. She peeked through the foggy glass next to the door to find Yuki, Kyo, and Haru waiting patiently. Or maybe not so patiently with Kyo. Ash unlocked the door and flung it wide open, a smile set upon her face.

"Hey guys! What're you doing all the way over here?" She questioned, stepping back to allow them to enter the house.

"We offered to help Silver and Venus with their shopping." Haru said, returning the smile.

"Oh. Well, good. I'm glad." Ashlynn replied, sighing inwardly. She was relieved to have some help. She wasn't all that thrilled about having to clean up the girls' mess all on her own. Silver would come back down to help after her shower, but she knew that Venus would not. Even if she threatened her. She knew for a fact that there would be no reasoning with her for awhile.

Ashlynn shut and locked the door after the boys entered, and waited for a moment as they took of their jackets and hung them on the rack by the door as they always did. Funny, it seemed to Ashlynn that this was becoming part of the norm even though it had only happened a couple of times. She was happy to have new friends over. But she was not happy with what might result later on.

"Follow me." She said, and the trio followed her to the kitchen. They each grabbed a bag and carried it over the the sink. The items that were clean were put away right away, and the items that were dirty were dusted or rinsed off before they were put in their proper place. They were about halfway through cleaning up and putting everything away when Silver walked into the kitchen.

"Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun, Haru-san. Hello." She said, bowing slightly, trying to hide the slight flush the crept up to her cheeks. The boys said their various versions of hello and went back to helping unload everything. Lacing her fingers in front of her, Silver walked over to Ashlynn. "We're sorry about the mess..." She began. "I know V probably isn't truly sorry, but I will say it for her anyways..."

Ashlynn turned to her friend and gazed down at her, a small smile spreading across her face. Silver glanced up and smiled softly in return as her friend embraced her in a strong hug. She let go after a few long seconds.

"How about we just forget the apologies and get these groceries unloaded, hm?" She said, and Silver just nodded, turning her gaze back to the floor. Silver adjusted her gray sweater and went over to the island, picking a back and taking it over to the sink where Ashlynn stood rinsing off various items. She began taking the jars out of the bag when a loud _bang!_ echoed throughout the house, causing Silver to jump and nearly drop a jar. Both hers and Ashlynn's eyes went wide as they looked at each other. Ashlynn looked up at Kyo, Yuki, and Haru who had just about the same expression on their faces.

"Venus is in a very bad mood..." Silver whispered, so soft that the others could barely hear her. A grim look spread across Ashlynn's face as she stared at her friend next to her.

"Let's just go back to what we were doing." Ashlynn stated, making it sound more like a command. Yuki, Kyo, and Haru nodded and went back to sifting through the various bags. They ignored the sounds from upstairs and focused on the task in front of them. The sound of rustling bags, the sink faucet, and shutting cabinet doors wasn't enough to take their mind off of the fact that there was tension in the air however. There was so much tension that, if it were to wound itself any tighter, you would likely see sparks.

Just then, someone pounded on the front door, causing Ashlynn, Silver, Yuki, Kyo, and Haru to all nearly jump out of their skin. They stood still as stone for a moment, and then the banging sound echoed again. It sounded as if someone were trying to bang the door down.

"Uhm... I'll get it." Ashlynn said. "Silver, would you keep washing the jars please?" Silver nodded and Ashlynn left to answer the door.

Looking through the peephole, Ash gasped, quickly placing a hand over her mouth. _What the Hell... What the Hell are _they_ doing here?_ _How did they find us? _She thought to herself, worry sinking like a boulder into the pit of her stomach.


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own any of the content relating to the original Fruits Basket. I do, however, own Venus, Ashlynn, Silver, Warren, and Hayden, and any other content related to them as well. You can find reference images for my characters on my profile._

**Chapter 4**

Ashlynn gulped as she stepped away from the front door. She glanced over toward the kitchen to find that Silver, Yuki, Haru and Kyo were all staring at her. Locking eyes with her best friend, she tried to erase the grim look that was set on her face, but the look that she received back from her friend told her that she had failed. And she had no choice but to open the door. Otherwise it would most likely be busted down, and Venus wouldn't like that one bit.

Stepping back up to the door, Ashlynn forced herself to take a couple deep breaths before she placed her hand on the door knob. After flipping the locks to the unlocked position, she barely had enough time to take a step back as two _very_ large males burst through the door. One was pushed out of the way as the other surged forward and scooped Ashlynn up into a giant bear hug. Ashlynn slapped her hand against the side of his arm, trying to let him know that she couldn't breathe.

"What the Hell are you two doing here?" Ashlynn managed to get out as the male set her down.

"Awe, come on, didn't you miss us?" Teased the male that just had her in a vice grip. "Where's Emmy?" He continued as he looked around, and an 'eep!' came from the kitchen.

"Warren, wait! Oh... fudge." She muttered as he brushed past her and strode off to the kitchen. Ashlynn heard a bunch of gasps, but she ignored it and turned to the other male that leaned against the now shut door. She just gave a slightly annoyed smile and said, "Hi Hayden."

"Hey Ash." He replied opening his arms for a hug. She went to him and they embraced briefly, then stepped apart. Ash stared up into his deep brown eyes for a moment. Even in the dim light of the foyer, she could still see the warmth in them. They always reminded her of hot cocoa. Where Warren's always reminded her of... mud.

She was forced to look away as a, "Hey Ashy!" came from the kitchen. She scurried toward the room with Hayden in tow. When she entered, Warren was standing with his arm draped awkwardly around Silver, and the two of them leaned against the counter by the sink. Kyo and Yuki stood on the other side of the island while Haru reclined in one of the dining chairs behind them. They all glanced about the room, no doubt wondering what was going on.

"Well, this is kind of a surprise..." Ashlynn muttered to herself. Silver glared at Ash with that, 'please help me' look on her face. Ash just smirked.

"You... know each other?" Haru questioned. Ash nodded, but Warren spoke up before she could.

"You betcha. We're all from-" Silver elbowed him hard in the side cutting him off, and reminding him to keep his mouth shut. "We're all... old friend." He said, rewording what he was going to say. "I'm Warren Kestner. And that's my brother, Hayden." He gestured to the male standing next to Ashlynn.

"Twins?" Yuki asked. The brothers nodded.

"Only by looks." Hayden said.

"Unfortunately..." Warren drew out.

Warren and Hayden glared at each other, invisible sparks dancing between them. Ashlynn cleared her throat and exaggerated a stretch.

"Well!" She exclaimed. "That's Haru Sohma with the black and white hair, Yuki Sohma with the light hair, and Kyo Sohma with the orange hair. They are all related. Not brothers though. And we go to school with them."

"School? That's new." Warren said, ruffling Silver's hair. She swatted at him and he stopped, but didn't let her go. Ashlynn just rolled her eyes at him.

"We were just finishing up unloading all of the groceries and such." Silver said, her voice hardly above a whisper. As it usually was. Warren gave her a quizzical look, one eyebrow cocked.

"Do you need any help?" Hayden asked, placing a hand on Ashlynn's shoulder to remind her that he was there.

"No thank you," she said as she shook her head. "I believe we have it covered. We're almost done anyways." She walked up to Silver and Warren and turned her eyes upon the male, poking him in the chest. It was like poking a rock. "You, sir, need to move." Warren heaved a sigh and pushed off of the counter, letting go of Silver, and moving to lean up against the wall underneath the large clock. The kitchen grew mostly silent as Silver and Ashlynn went back to cleaning things off to put away. Yuki and Haru were moving dirty thing from the bags to the counter next to Ash and Silver and dried what the two girls had washed off. Kyo had stopped putting things away, so Yuki and Haru had to puck up the slack so the groceries wouldn't pile up on the counter.

"You guys got anything to eat?" Warren questioned out of the blue.

"Uhh... Obviously." Ashlynn said, sarcasm dripping off of her tongue. "We will be making dinner after we're done cleaning up here though. So you can wait for that." But when she turned to look at the twin, he was already digging through the refrigerator. Ashlynn rolled her eyes and Hayden couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's Warren for you," he joked. "Patient as ever."

"Ain't that the truth!" Ashlynn said, and Silver laughed, raising an empty glass that she had just washed.

"What's up with this?" Warren mused. "All you guys have is health freak food in here. And energy drinks." He continued, coming out of the fridge while popping open a Monster.

"Excuse us for not eating like pigs and having two hollow legs." Ashlynn retorted. "There's some junk food in the top cabinet on the far left." She said, pointing with a soapy hand. "Potato chips, cookies, chocolate, you name it, it's probably in there."

"Sweet deal!" He exclaimed, bumping the fridge door closed with his hip. He too a swig of his Monster and headed toward the cabinet, dodging Yuki and Haru as they continued to shuffle about the kitchen. Kyo glared as Warren brushed past him, but the larger male paid no attention. His eyes were on the prize. He opened the cabinet and peered in, "Ooohh-ing" at what he saw. There was so much junk food in there that it was hard for him to make up his mind. He sifted through what was stacked in the cabinet, with quite a bit of difficulty considering that there wasn't much spare room, before deciding on a large bag of Chips Ahoy cookies. "Oh yeah, this is what I'm talking about." He drawled as he busted the bag open and stuck his hand in.

"I'm surprised you don't have a mouthful of cavities with the way you eat, Warren." Ashlynn said, glancing over her shoulder as he shoved two whole cookies in his mouth. He just shrugged as he chewed, swallowed, then stuck another two in his mouth. "And don't go eating that whole bag unless you plan on replacing it." She continued, knowing from past experience that he would actually in the whole bag in one sitting. Nor would he replace the bag. And he would probably leave the empty bag sitting on the table or the counter too. If he didn't like you much, then he would seal the bag up and put it back where he got it from as if there were still cookies left in it.

"Don't worry," He said as he swallowed what was in his mouth. "I won't spoil my breakfast."

"What makes you think you're eating with us?" Ashlynn asked, semi joking.

"Oh come on, you wouldn't just turn us away without a meal, would you Ashy? And you know how much we _love_ you cooking."

"Stop trying to lay on the sweets." She said. "And you can leave now if you're going to keep calling me Ashy."

"Ashy-poo?" He questioned through his wide, brilliant grin. Ashlynn looked over her shoulder and gave him one of those 'don't even go there' looks. Warren just kept grinning at her as he stuck his hand back in the bag to get more cookies.

Warren was over halfway done with the bag of cookies by the time Ashlynn, Silver, and the boys (minus Kyo) were done cleaning up the groceries. The clean bags were folded up and stacked neatly under the sink for later use as trash bags or some similar use, the dirty ones were put into the recycle, and the kitchen counters were spotless. Just the way Ash liked them.

"Warren, you might want to put that away now..." Ashlynn muttered as she eyed the male, while drying her hands off with a dish towel. Silver put one last jar in the cabinet next to the fridge and did the same, taking the towel from Ashlynn. Warren held her gaze for a moment, look down at the bag, and then back up at Ash.

"Just one more." He said as he stuck his hand in the back, sticking one last cookie in his mouth. Ashlynn rolled her eyes.

"Wash your hands after you're done, too. We don't want you getting your cookie fingers everywhere." Ash said as she hung the towel on the oven bar, just as Warren was about to wipe his hands on his pants.

"Bossy, bossy..." He muttered under his breath as he put the cookie bag back in the cabinet, then made his way over to the sink to wash his hands.

"I _can_ hear you, you know." Ash retorted, moving out of his way. He could have easily muscled her out of the way, but there was no need for that. After he finished washing his hands, he dried them on the community towel and ran his clean, dry hands through his short, dirty blonde hair.

"So, did you guys buy out the whole store or what?" He said, commenting on all of the groceries that he had seen them put away.

"Uhm, no..." Silver said quietly.

"She and Venus went shopping this morning. Made off with my grocery list and bought a bit extra. It's no big deal though. We'll use it all. Especially if you two are going to be here for God knows how long." Ashlynn finished.

"V's here?" Hayden piped up. Ashlynn had almost forgotten that he was standing in the archway leading from the kitchen to the living room that they had come through earlier. He was quite a bit quieter than his twin.

"Uhm, yeah, she's upstairs taking a shower. I think. I don't know when she will be down. If at all..." She added that last part under her breath.

"She in a bad mood or something?" Hayden asked, his voice low.

"Yeah... Extremel- Warren!" Ash yelped and flattened herself against the counter as Warren barged past her. "You idiot, get back here!" He would have knocked his brother over if the other male didn't jump out of the way in time.

"I'm just going to say hi!" Warren said as he headed toward the stairs. Ashlynn ran past Hayden to follow the brother.

"Seriously Warren, don't go up there!" But Warren was already halfway up the stairs, and the male was stubborn as Hell. A hand was placed on Ashlynn's shoulder.

"Stay here, I'll deal with my brother." Hayden said as Ash turned to look up at him. She pressed her lips together, but nodded. She wasn't about to try and argue with him. Getting between Warren and something he was after was a bad idea, especially if you weighed only a third of what he did. And with that, Hayden headed up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Venus stood in the middle of her shower, head tilted upward so that the rush of the water ran across her face. Her back hurt, but it wasn't enough to stop the itching. She felt like she had scrubbed her back raw but she knew that wasn't true. Maybe it was a bit red and angry, but it wasn't completely raw. Suddenly feeling weak, she sank to her knees and then rocked back onto her haunches. Her legs felt like jell-o, and she knew that she would have collapsed if she wouldn't have sat down. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead on them, letting the water run over her back instead. The frigid water was helping but she could still feel the monster inside itching to get out. Then her eyes popped open as she heard heavy footsteps coming into her room. So she hadn't locked the door after all...

"Eva, baby!" She drew a sharp breathe at the sound of that voice. That deep, masculine voice that she knew so well. That voice that she hated since she was little. She could picture his face in her mind; the chiseled, square jaw, straight nose, flat brown eyes that reminded her of dirt, and that head of short, dirty blond hair that stuck in whatever direction it felt like. Oh, how she hated that face. The thought of that male and the mention of her name made her stomach clench, and she growled at the pain. "Awe come on, you know you missed me too." He teased. She just clenched her eyes shut and didn't move.

The sound of another pair of boots made her stomach clench harder, and her back spasmed in response. The pain produced a gasp from her as she brought her legs up closer into a tight ball. She heard a grunt, and then what was most likely a body getting slammed up against a wall or the door.

"What the Hell, Hayd?" She heard Warren say through gritted teeth.

"You never listen!" His brother growled at him, "Why can't you just do what others tell you for once? For crying out loud!"

"Fuck you." Warren spat. She could just picture the scene. Hayden had his brother flat up against the wall, their chest nearly pressed together as he jabbed his finger into his chest. Both of them would have their brows knit together, rage and hatred splayed across their faces. Warren would have his chin tilted upward so he could look down upon his brother in a defiant manner. Typical.

She heard some more rustling, the sound of heavy boots thudding on the floor, one of the brothers being shoved, a "Get you ass out of here!" from Hayden, and the slamming of her bathroom door. Then a sigh a few seconds later.

Ashlynn went back to the kitchen and leaned her elbows on the top of the island. The sounds didn't filter down from upstairs very well, but she and Silver knew what was most likely going on. Warren was pulling his typical "I can do whatever I want" attitude while Hayden scolded him, but Hayden would eventually win and Warren would surrender. For the time being. She could bet that he would try to get hi back later.

Sure enough, not even five minutes later, Warren came stomping down the stairs. His shitkickers thudded into the kitchen, echoing in the silence as he went. Ashlynn looked at him, raising one eyebrow.

He just grunted.

"I see..." Ashlynn murmured, turning to focus her gaze back on the counter and how pristine it was. Except for one spot, which she scratched at with a black polish-coated nail.

"Would you like us to help you breakfast, Ashlynn?" Yuki spoke up, asking politely.

"Sure, Yuki, that would be wonderful." Ashlynn said, faking a smile as she glanced up.

"What are we having this time?" Silver said, tugging on Ashlynn's sleeve. Ashlynn looked down and the silver-haired girl, thinking.

"How about we make chocolate chip pancakes and mushroom and cheese omelets? Maybe we can cut up some fresh fruit too. See if we can get our V to be less irritable today."

"If that's even possible." She replied, giggled softly. Ashlynn smiled, a real smile this time.

"Yuki, can you get the milk and eggs from the fridge please" Ashlynn said as she went over to the cabinet to get the Bisquick. Silver dug around in the cabinets to get out the pans and the cutting boards. She also got some bowls from the cabinets as well. Yuki set the milk and eggs on the counter next to the sink, and Ashlynn followed, grabbing one of the bowls that Silver had set out. She scooped out some of the Bisquick, added the milk, and then the eggs while muttering something about having to triple the recipe and how the twins were going to eat them out of house and home.

Meanwhile, Yuki and Haru took various fruits from the fridge and set them on the island; watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, strawberries, mango, and kiwi. They began to slice away as Silver grabbed the mushrooms and cheddar cheese and sliced them up as well. She finished quickly and moved to stand next to Ashlynn. She began to crack eggs into a bowl, pausing at three eggs to add some of the mushrooms and cheese, then poured the mixture into a warm, slightly greased non-stick pan that she had placed on the gas stove. She wiggled the pan around, then turned to prepare the next omelet.

Warren had shifted over to the dining chair that was under the junk cabinet. And what do you know, the jerk had his hand stuck back in the bag of cookies. There wouldn't be any left this time. Ashlynn wondered whether the empty bag would be on the table or back in the cabinet later.

Kyo remained reclined in the dining chair on the other side of the table, his feet crossed at the ankle on the chair next to him. His arms were crossed and he alternated his glare between Yuki, Haru, and Warren. More Yuki and Haru though, of course.

Ashlynn had finished mixing the pancake mix, extra chocolate chips included just for Venus, and turned to the stove. She poured eight perfect little circles on the griddle in the middle of the burners and stepped back to adjust the heat to 'just right'. She grabbed a spatula out of the pot next to the stove as Silver walked up to put a new omelet on the stove. Everything smelled delicious, and she knew that if Venus was going to come downstairs at all, she would be drawn by the aroma very soon.

The bathroom upstairs was quiet, except for the running water in the shower. Hayden leaned up against the locked door and just stared at the foggy glass. Odd though, it wasn't hot in the bathroom. It was actually kind of cold. He figured that the glass must be foggy all on its own, and the water was cold.

"Venus?" He said cautiously as he stepped away from the wall. He knew better than to call her by her real name. Unlike his idiotic brother. He swore he thought that man had a death wish sometimes.

Nothing, no response

"V, baby, are you okay?" He walked up to the glass and still, there was no response from her. Standing in front of the shower, he noticed that there was no silhouette behind it. "V, I'm going to open the door okay?" He said as he placing his hand on the door and yanked it open.

Venus was curled up at the bottom of the shower, her wet hair spread all around her like a fan. Goosebumps covered her skin, making the scars that littered her body look more ominous and fearful than they usually did. Her knees were pressed to her chest and her head was still resting on them.

"Shit, girl..." Hayden whispered as he shut off the water, then reached around the shower door and grabbed her black kimono robe. Kneeling down, he gently grabbed her upper arms and hauled her towards him and out of the frigid water. He tossed the rode over her as he body unraveled, closing it in the front, not caring if it got soaking wet. At this point, he just wanted to get her covered and out of the freezing water. She opened her eyes as he brushed her hair from her face and bit back a curse.

"Hayden?" She breathed. Was she aware that her eyes had turned? The eerie white color always chilled him to the bone, but he mentally shook off the dread.

"Yeah, I'm here girl. Let's get you out of here before you freeze." He said softly as he lifted her out of the shower.

Venus couldn't remember being moved. All she remembered was that fraction of a second when she had looked up and seen Hayden's worried face. She knew what she looked like, and she hated him seeing her like this. She hated anyone seeing her like this. She hated anyone seeing her as weak, even Ashlynn and Silver whom she was closest too. She especially hated when they wouldn't leave her alone once her eyes had changed from their normal icy blue to that haunting white. What it meant was danger for everyone around her.

Hayden didn't seem to care though, he just seemed worried. The lines were all over his otherwise perfect face. She liked the light, the warmth that was in his eyes. They made her feel kind of happy, if that was possible at the moment. She liked how his long hair always looked so disheveled too. She always used to tease him about never taking care of himself, though she knew that wasn't true. He just had a lion's mane instead of regular hair. She liked the way that she felt safe in his arms at the moment, too.

Hayden placed Venus on the bathroom counter and made sure she was leaning up against the wall next to her before he left her side to get a towel out of one of the cabinets in the bathroom. He went back to her and placed the towel over head, then began to rub it around, trying to soak up as much of the water as he could. After he had finished, he hung the towel on the hook where her robe previously was.

"Hey V, you still with me?" He questioned as he leaned down to her level in front of her, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She fluttered them open, and attempted to swat at his hand with a groan. "Just checking to make sure you weren't going t change and jump me. You'd ruin the house you know." He joked, stepping back. "How about some clothes?"

"Mhmm," She murmured and pushed her upper body away from the wall, swaying a little as she sat up straight. "Pants. Sweater." Hayden nodded and unlocked the bathroom door, going into her bedroom.

He stood with his hands on his hips and looked around. _I don't know what's clean and what's dirty. _He thought to himself, noting all of the clothes on the floor. He started by going over to her dresser. When he opened the top drawer, he was surprised to see it almost full. He grabbed a pair of black yogo pants, panties, and a bra, then shut the drawer. Moving over to the closet, he walked in and looked around for a sweater. He ended up grabbing a bright green hoodie that said "LOVE PINK" in large, black block letter across the front.

We he went back into the bathroom, he was surprised to see Venus standing, although she was swaying slightly with one hand on the counter and the other against her head. She glanced up at him as he walked in and he was glad to see that her eyes were almost back to their normal blue color.

"Should you be standing yet?" He asked as he went to her, handing her her clothes. She looked down at what he was holding.

"You went through my lingerie drawer."

"Uhh... Yeah. Sorry." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

She just smirked slightly and took the clothes from him.

"It's alright... And I'm fine." She said, remembering to answer his other question. She turned from him, placing her things on the counter. Hayden turned away as she opened her robe to slip on her panties, then her yoga pants. She then took off the soaked robe and put it in the sink, making a mental note to get ti dry cleaned later. She put her black bra on and adjusted it so it fit properly.

"V girl, that dragon tattoo of yours really freaks me out sometimes. I feel like it's staring at me." Hayden spoke up. Venus looked over her shoulder to find that the male was staring at her back with an odd look upon his face. She turned back to the counter and picked up her hoodie, slipping it over her head.

"You know, it really creeps me out sometimes, too." She said, turning back to him as she pulled her hood up. Suddenly she stiffened, and Hayden braced himself in response. But he relaxed as her eyes reverted to their normal blue color. And he pupils dilated. He looked at her with a slightly concerned expression on his face. Then the smell of breakfast wafted across his senses and he just chuckled.

"You always know when there's food." He said playfully as he walked up to her, wrapping one well-muscled arm around her thin shoulders. She leaned against his strong body and they began to slowly make their way down to the kitchen.

Downstairs, Ashlynn, Silver, Yuki, and Haru were beginning to bring everything into the dining room. Everything from the individual plates with omelets, a giant bowl of fruit salad, and a platter of pancakes. Cups and utensils were set out as well, along with a pot of herbal tea.

Just as everyone sat down at the table, someone cleared their throat. The group looked up to see Hayden standing in the doorway with his arm wrapped around a tired-looking Venus. A bright grin popped onto Ashlynn's face as she jumped up from her chair and ran to her friend. She gave her an awkward hug, considering Hayden was still wrapped around her.

"Feeling better?" She asked. Venus just nodded, and even though Ash knew it was mostly a lie, she wasn't going to say anything. She knew that this was "fine" compared to whatever had just happened. "Come sit, we made your favorite." Ash continued, gesturing to the empty chair at the head of the table. Hayden walked Venus to her seat, then took the empty seat that was at the corner next to her.

"Looks delicious!" He exclaimed as he grabbed four pancakes and plopped them down onto his plate, then placed two on Venus's plate. He spooned them each a small bowl full of fruit as well. They both loved their fruit, that was for sure.

Venus picked up her fork and slowly started working at her omelet, taking one small bite at a time. Normally she would have devoured it in a matter of minutes, but her stomach was still bothering her. Eating might not have been the best idea at the moment, but everything looked so delicious that she couldn't turn it down. Especially because everyone, minus Warren and Kyo she was willing to bet, had worked so hard to make all of it for her.

A half an hour later, the omelets and all of the pancakes were demolished. Not even a chocolate chip or a stray mushroom was left on the plates. There was some fruit left, but that would be eaten later, no doubt. Everyone was leaning back, reclining in their seats, rubbing their stomachs.

"I couldn't eat another bite." Warren said.

"You were the one that ate that whole bag of cookies. And two omelets, and seven pancakes." Hayden drawled.

"Bite me, brother."

"Ew, no thank you, you filthy pig."

"Anyways!" Ashlynn interrupted, just as Warren opened his mouth to say something. "So, like, what are you guys doing here anyways? It's not often one of you just randomly pops up at our door."

"Uhh, well... We- Uhm-" Warren sputtered, trying to come up with what to say. Ashlynn leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her knuckles.

"I'm waiting." She said impatiently.

"_We_ have a problem." Hayden spoke up instead, hoping she would get his implied tone.

She did. She dropped her forearms to the table and turned her hardened gaze to him. Yuki, Haru, and Kyo obviously didn't get what was going on, but Silver and Venus, like Ashlynn, had also leaned forward with interest. They all stared at Hayden, waiting for an explanation.

"This had better be good..." Venus growled out.


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own any of the content relating to the original Fruits Basket, meaning Yuki, Haru, and Kyo. I do, however, own Venus, Ashlynn, Silver, Warren, and Hayden, and any other content related to them as well. I also own the complete plot and storyline in this fanfiction. You can find reference images for my characters on my profile. And if it's not too much to ask, I would like some reviews. Having no reviews after four chapters makes me feel like no one likes my story, besides my friends of course. Which I appreciate and all, but there would be no point in posting (or possibly writing at all) if no one else enjoys reading this. I know the first couple chapters are kind of suck-ish, but I wrote them back in high school. Or possibly even middle school. So I was only around 13. I'm now 20, and my writing is _much _better (at least I think so)._

_Sorry for any mistakes. It's 5am and I tried to proof-read it, but my mind isn't working properly. If you find a mistake, please let me know. I will fix it as soon as I can._

**Chapter 5**

The dining room had gone completely silent. It seemed as though the room itself was holding its breath. The silence broke abruptly as Venus began to tap her fingernails on the table top in an irritated, impatient manner. Then again, that wasn't anything new. Ashlynn was still leaning forward, her forearms resting on the table. Silver was leaning forward too, but her hands were clasped together in her lap. Warren and Hayden turned to glare at each other as they both leaned back and folded their muscular arms across their chests at the same time. They continued to stare, which felt like hours has passed to Venus. Haru, Yuki, and Kyo glanced back and forth at the other two males as they seemed to be having a silent conversation; their faces would scrunch, eyes would narrow, lips would be stretched taught. Then they turned to face the others.

"So..." Ashlynn began.

"We can't tell you." Warren spoke up. "Not with them here." He gestured with a nod of his head toward Yuki, Kyo, and Haru. Venus snorted.

"Where do you expect them to go? Outside? It's raining, but I'm sure you know that already. They will probably get struck by lightning or something." Venus leaned back in her chair and propped one of her yoga pant-clad legs up over the arm. "Mmm, I love me some charred human."

"You're such a smart ass." Warren cut in, narrowing his gaze at her as she smirked and patted her still aching belly gently.

"They can just go in the other room and watch TV. That would be good enough." Hayden said. The other three boys nodded and got up to leave the dining room.

"The remote should be on the couch," Ashlynn said. "Watch whatever you like. You know where the DVDs are." The boys bowed shallowly and muttered their thanks for the delicious breakfast, then left the room. Everyone else waited in silence, until they heard the TV turn on and a DVD start to play.

"Okay, what's going on?" Venus demanded, her voice low and quite a bit angered.

"Well... We came here to make sure you were... okay." Warren said, keeping his voice low.

"Okay? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Venus hissed.

"You know, okay as in _not dead_?" Warren shot back, his voice gravely.

"Why the Hell would we be dead?" Venus looked down and patted at herself. "Funny, I don't _feel_ dead." Everyone in the room rolled their eyes.

"Something happened back home. Something is still happening, so we had to find you. But it was taking so long that we feared the worst. It was proving near impossible to track you, so we thought that the _Leviathan_ had gotten to you. Yet here you are." Hayden said softly.

"Here we are!" Venus practically shouted as she dramatically tossed her hands into the air, wiggling her fingers. "And who's the _Leviathan_?"

"That's what, who, we came here to warn you about. You've all been gone for so long, so we figured you wouldn't know about them. That or they had already gotten to you." Venus gave him that 'go on...' sort of look.

Hayden sighed and rubbed the sides of his head, no doubt trying to figure out what exactly to say, and how to say it.

"The _Leviathan_ are... a threat. To us." He began, glancing out to the living room to make sure that the other boys weren't eavesdropping on them. And to note that he was talking about people that were like _them_, the five sitting at the dining table. "You know we've been fighting with 'evil' in the past, but nothing like this. They just came up out of the wood-works one day. We'd gotten home early one morning from scouting, minus Kellin and Oliver. They showed up a few hours later, Kellin in Oliver's arms, unconscious, and Oliver could barely walk. Both of them were severely wounded. We thought Kellin wasn't going to make it, but he's fine now..."

Ashlynn and Silver gasped quietly, while Venus growled her disapproval.

"They hurt Kellin? And Oli?" Silver whispered so quietly that Hayden barely heard her from the other side of the table. He simply nodded.

"We don't know much about them yet, other than that they are very dangerous and we all need to be careful." He continued. "Since then, they have been attacking family members, those we are close to, or even those we have been seen with us. We know that they capture them, and most likely interrogate them. And we aren't talking police methods here, we're talking violence by any means necessary to get the answers they want."

"You're kidding." Ashlynn stated.

"I wish I was. Those they capture don't come back alive." He stared at the girls, who's eyes had widened to saucers.

"You have to come back with us." Warren piped in. His voice dead serious, which was odd for the likes of him.

"But... We can't leave." Silver said quietly. "This is our home. We've been here this whole time and we haven't had a single problem." Ashlynn and Venus nodded in agreement.

"But it's not safe here," Warren said. "You need to come back and stay with us at the Kompound."

"Screw that place!" Venus exclaimed. "I'm not going to let the keep me locked up like a dog." Warren raised an eyebrow at her, daring her to say more.

"Besides," Ashlynn butt in before the tension between Venus and Warren could coil even tighter. "We've been hanging around with the Sohma boys a lot lately. What happens if these _Leviathan_ go after them? You said they go after people we've even been seen with, right? We won't be able to do anything about it if we go with you."

"Well... You have a point, but we can't risk the three of you."

"I think I can handle myself, thank you very much." Venus said, venom laced into her voice.

"You _think_ you can handle yourself."

"With the way I've kicked your ass in the past, I'm pretty sure I can." Venus crossed her arms and just smirked at him. He glared at her, holding her icy gaze.

"To us, your lives are worth more than theirs." Hayden said and Silver's jaw dropped. "But! There's a but. Ash, you're right. We can't go risking the lives of other humans just to save our own asses."

"So we're staying." Venus said, making sure she was clear that it wasn't a question.

"I suppose so. And the Kompound isn't _that_ far away, so we could stop in and check on you guys sometimes. You know,-"

"Yeah, make sure we aren't dead. Got it." Venus interrupted him.

"Yeah. And I can't believe the three of you were right under our noses the whole time..." Warren muttered.

"Sometimes the best way to hide is in plain sight." Venus said, grinning her sharp-toothed. He just continued to glare. He was just as annoyed as she was.

"So, you haven't mentioned much about the _Leviathan_." Ashlynn said. "How do we know when we're up against them? What do they look like? What can they do?"

"They look just like us, like regular humans-" Hayden said.

"Oh great!" Venus started, rolling her eyes. "Hey Ash, this guy looks suspicious. Oh, now he's looking at me funny! Let's go take him down just for shits and giggles..." Ashlynn gave her a slightly annoyed look.

"Some of us hate being interrupted almost as much as you do..." Hayden muttered, glancing at Venus who stuck her tongue out at him. "They look like regular humans _at first glance_. You can tell it's them because their eyes aren't normal. They are slitted, like a snake. Most of them have black, or at least dark, colored hair and very pale skin. And they smelt salty, like the ocean." This time, Venus cocked and eyebrow.

"And you don't know what they do?" Ashlynn questioned.

"Not entirely. We just know that they are skilled with weapons and that they are out to... eliminate us. We do not know why and we don't know what other sorts of abilities they have. Kellin and Oliver couldn't tell us much after they started to recover. The seem to have virtually no memory of what happened."

"We also know that they are more active at night, and also when it rains." Everyone turned to look out the window as Warren paused. It was near pitch black outside and it was pouring. How perfect. "They are drawn to the darkness and to water, so they are more active when it is present."

"Do lakes and such count too?" Ash inquired. The twins nodded.

"Shit..." Venus murmured under her breath. Warren and Hayden looked at her. "We have a lake out back. And it is raining outside after all. There's five of us in one place right now. It would be the perfect time for them to show up. Or they might wait until the two of you decide to leave and either go after you, or us." She gestured to herself, Ash, and Silver at that last part.

"It's a possibility, but they've been quietly lately. So who knows." Hayden said.

"That makes me feel so much better, thanks." Venus deadpanned.

"You're welcome." Hayden grinned that warm grin that had always made Venus at least attempt to smile in return. There was just something about it that made her feel safe. Usually, but she wasn't so sure this time. As if sensing it, Hayden said, "But we can stay here for awhile if you'd like. Just in case."

Venus looked down at her crossed arms and thought. Then she looked up at her friends. Her family. They were important to her, even if she didn't always show it. And right now, they looked just as worried as she felt.

"Alright." She said, nodding slightly. "At least until it stops raining."

Hayden continued to grin while Warren slumped in his seat. He probably wanted to go home and get away from these loons. He probably just wanted to go home so he could eat more, or maybe go back to sleep. But that wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

"Only until it stops raining." Hayden said to Warren, and Warren just rolled his eyes at his brother.

"If you say so."

"I do say so."

"Why don't we go and... do the dishes, hm?" Ashlynn suggested, getting up from her seat.

"Don't look at me!" Warren yelped, just as Venus said,

"I don't _do_ dishes."

Ashlynn rolled her eyes, but she could have figured as much. Venus hardly ever did the dishes, and Warren always avoided chores if he could help it. She looked at Silver and the girl just nodded and stood as well. She walked out of the room and to the living room as Ashlynn began to gather dishes in her hands. Hayden stood, did the same, and followed her into the kitchen. As they began scrubbing plates and loading them into the dishwasher, Silver came into the room, hands full of dishes, with Haru and Yuki behind her, hands also full of dishes. Ashlynn looked at them, smiled her thanks, and went back to washing.

After all of the dishes were washed, the leftovers put away, and the table was cleaned off, Ashlynn, Hayden, Yuki, and Haru made their way to the living room. Warren had claimed the love seat and was completely sprawled out. Venus sat on the floor, leaning up against the couch. She continued to gently rub at her stomach, which still ached. Kyo sat on the far end of the large couch, as far away from the others as he could get. Ashlynn sighed as she went and flopped down on the large bean bag by the large sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. Silver sank onto the other end of the couch, her legs to Venus's right. Yuki and Haru had no choice but to awkwardly arrange themselves between her and Kyo; Haru next to Kyo, and Yuki between Haru and Silver. None of them so much as dared to touch. With nowhere comfortable to sit, Hayden plopped himself down next to Venus who scooted over and curled up next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Warren had nabbed the remote while the others were gone, and he was lazily flipping through the channels. Venus kept glancing at him every now and then, most likely annoyed that he either wouldn't pick something to watch, or that he was flipping through the channels too slow. Suddenly, with a screen that caused everyone in the room to nearly jump out of their skin, she lunged at Warren. He jumped up the back of the love seat as she came at him, but was too startled to keep her from snatching the remote from him.

"What the Hell?" Warren exclaimed as she pounced on him.

Just as quickly as she had jumped at him, she had rolled back to the floor and over Hayden's outstretched legs. She crouched on the other side of him as she glared at Warren, clutching the remote to her chest. Snorting, she turned her gaze to the TV and began furiously jabbing at the channel up button on the remote. The display on the screen flickered so fast that no one could keep up.

"Holy fuck, slow down, I can't see anything!" Warren cursed as he settled back into his seat.

"No point." Venus muttered, her gaze completely zoned in on the tv. "Ugh, there's nothing on!" She exclaimed as she tossed the remote into the air.

"How can you even tell? The channels were going by too fast!"

"You were flipping through them so slow that it didn't matter how fast I flipped through them..."

"There was no need for your pouncing then."

"I don't _need_ a reason to do _anything_."

"You are such a bitch, you know that?"

"I've been called worse."

"I really hate you sometimes."

"I know you do, trust me."

"Trust you? I don't know if I'd want to do that or not."

The others watched the exchange with mixed looks of entertainment and annoyance on their face. Silver had scooted away from the arm of the couch, and away from Warren, tucking her legs up onto the couch. There was no way she wanted to be between the two if they decided to wrestle it out. It was known to happen every once in awhile. They just liked to push each others buttons until one of them made the first move. It was usually Warren that initiated the wrestling, but Venus wasn't exactly in the best of moods. It seemed to be fluctuating, which wasn't a good thing. At all.

Ashlynn coughed and cleared her throat obnoxiously as the two continued to fight. Venus turned to glare at her while Warren continued with his bantering, so Ashlynn picked up a pillow that was next to the bean bag and chucked it at him. He was so focused on his quarrel with Venus that it smacked him full out on the face. He blinked for a moment, then looked down at the pillow, then looked across the room at Ashlynn. She giggled as she watched the pieces get put together on his face.

"You are so next." He threatened her as he picked up the pillow and threw it back at her.

"Am I? I would rather not be next. Whatever that means." He narrowed his eyes at her and leaned back in his seat. She picked up the pillow he threw back at her and put it behind her head. "Since there's nothing on, let's play a game."

"What? Why!" Venus whined.

"Because!"

"I don't want to!"

"Yes you do!" Ashlynn got up from the bean bag and walked over to the closet underneath the stairs and went inside. She disappeared behind the clothes hanging from the rod, then reappeared with a box in her hands. She shut the door, then walked back and sank back into the bean bag, placing the box on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Of all the games, you pick that one?" Warren groaned.

"Seriously Ashlynn? Scrabble?" Venus said, her tone the same as Warren's.

"Come on, just play the stupid game. It won't kill you."

"You don't know that..." Venus whispered under her breath. Ashlynn just shook her head and opened the box, taking the boards and the pieces out.

"There's only four, so we'll have to team up." Ashlynn said, and Venus stuck her tongue out. Ash kept one of the letter trays to herself, gave one to Yuki, Hayden, and tossed the last one at Warren. "Yuki and Haru can team up, V and Hayd, and S and Warren. Kyo, you're stuck with me."

"Why me? I don't even want to play this stupid game." Kyo growled.

"Just do it."

"Yeah, do it Kyo." Venus said without even turning to glance at him, laughing to herself. Ashlynn just smirked and tried not to snort. Kyo glared at Venus as he moved off the couch to sit down next to the bean bag that Ashlynn was on. Yuki and Haru moved to the opposite side of the board, in front of the tv. Venus and Hayden stayed where they were. Warren grabbed a pillow, moved off the love seat, and lowered himself to the floor so he was laying on his stomach, arms folded across the pillow. Silver moved to sit next to him, though she did not look too pleased. Or comfortable for that matter. Then again, the only one that was probably completely "comfortable" in the room was Venus, which was odd.

"Alright, take seven tiles guys." Ashlynn commanded as she dug seven tiles out for herself and held the bag out for Venus to take. Venus grabbed the bag and sifted through its contents, blinding picking seven random tiles. Then she gave the bag to Silver who did the same, and passed it to Yuki. They had all set their tiles on their trays and were studying them, thinking of what moves they could make.

"Who's going first?" Haru questioned, looking around.

"Ah crap, I forgot that we each have to draw one tile first. Whoever draws the closest to the first letter, which is A, gets to go first. Then we go clockwise." Ashlynn said, mentally cursing. Yuki picked up the bag that sat next to him and drew out a letter.

"Letter K." He said, and held onto the tile. Warren took the bag from him and drew a tile.

"Letter E." Venus took the bag from him and drew a tile.

"Letter... Are you kidding me? Letter X. Fuck me." She tossed the bag at Ashlynn who caught it with one hand.

"Letter..." She pulled a tile out and looked at it. "It's blank. That means we go first." She stated.

"Why?" Haru asked.

"A blank tile is equivalent to letter A." Haru nodded.

"Great! That means we go last..." Venus groaned as she stretched out along the bottom of the couch, resting her head on Hayden's lap. Ashlynn just grinned at her.

"Alright, let's see here..." Ashlynn murmured to herself as she turned her gaze to her and Kyo's letters. The two whispered for a bit, but Ashlynn ended up taking the tiles and putting down the word 'cozy'.

Yuki and Hard did the same, adding the letters r, a, t, and e to the c to spell 'crate. Warren and Silver followed suit. Mainly Silver because Warren was too busy staring at the news on the TV. She placed down the letters c, r, a, and z to spell 'crazy'. Venus and Hayden studied their letters, and eventually V placed down the letters n, u, and d on the e to spell 'nude'. Venus laughed as Ashlynn hit the palm of her hand against her face, vaguely hearing Warren mention something about wanting a snack and Hayden replying that he was always hungry.

The two bickered while Silver got up to make something. She disappeared into the kitchen while the others had their turns at the game.

"I smell..." Venus started, sniffing the air. Then Silver walked into the room with a big bowl in her hands. "POPCORN!"

Silver set the bowl down and everyone reached for a handful. After everyone snacked for a bit, Venus and Warren eyed each other, then the bowl. Back and forth. And then Silver jumped out of the way as Warren lunged for the bowl, and Venus stretched over Hayden to grab it. Ashlynn sighed as popcorn flew everywhere.

"I am _not_ cleaning that up." She said, her voice highly irritated. Yet she didn't have to worry about that because Venus and Warren began picking up the pieces and eating them as fast as they could, apparently having an unstated contest to see who could pick up and eat the most in the shortest amount of time.

"Looks like you won't have to..." Hayden muttered, humor tinting his voice.

"Alright guys, you've cleaned up _every single piece_ of popcorn. Back to the game now." Ashlynn demanded. Venus and Warren glared at each other for a moment, then went back to their side of the board. Venus adjusted her tray and letters which she had managed to knock over and scatter the letters as she had gone after the popcorn.

They played until they had finished the game. Or had been forced to finish the game at least. Venus had grown extremely frustrated with her lack of ability to place words on the board as the bag of letters was nearly empty. She had tossed her letter tray into the air as she jumped to her feet, not bothering to look back at it landing directly on the board and scattering the placed letters all over the room as she stormed off into the kitchen. Everyone had groaned in irritation. Warren was secretly happy.

In the kitchen, Venus had gone straight to her junk cabinet.

"Where are my cookies?" She yelled, slamming the cabinet shut. The sound of Ashlynn laughing her ass off came from the other room. "It was Warren, wasn't it?" Ash just kept laughing. Venus growled to herself and stomped over to the fridge. She open the door, bent over, and rummaged around for something to eat. And she nearly jumped out of her skin when Silver's voice came from behind her.

"We could probably start making dinner now. It's almost five." She said softly as her friend straightened and turned around to look at her, and added, "Sorry for startling you..."

"It's alright S. Just don't sneak up on me like that anymore, you know how much I hate it."

"Sorry... So, what would you like for dinner?"

"Hm..." Venus shut the refrigerator door and leaned against it, crossing her arms. "How about we have that yummy salmon?"

"The potato-crusted one? With the mango and peach salsa you always make?"

"Yes, exactly. Over wild rice, with mashed potatoes on the side. I'm getting hungry already. This is what I get for skipping meals." Venus said and she rubbed her stomach.

"Okay, I'll get the ingredients out." Silver said. Venus stepped away from the fridge to allow her to do so. Instead, she went over to the other side of the island and began taking our various pots and pans, cutting boards, bowls and plates, and utensils.

"Good thing we bought salmon today." Venus said as she watched Silver pull the packaged fish out of the refrigerator, the last item needed. Silver just nodded. She wandered around the kitchen and grabber the measuring cups and began to measure everything out so it was ready to go. Before they knew it, dinner was ready to be put together.

"You wanna do the mashed potatoes and dice up everything for the salsa for me, S?" Venus asked her friend without bothering to look up from the fish that was in front of her.

"You want _me_ to make your salsa!" Silver's voice was unusually loud.

"Why not? You've seen me make it enough times."

"Okay, I'll try..." Silver whispered, and she began to cut up the ingredients for the salsa.

Meanwhile, Venus turned on the griddle on the stove, set the oven to "warm", and went back to begin making the salmon. She put the shredded potatoes into a shallow pan, then spread the salmon "glue" over each filet. After, she dipped each one into the shredded potatoes, making sure both sides were evenly coated. Going over to the stove, she placed a few of the filets on the griddle and they hit with a _hiss_. She adjusted the heat, and went to make the lemon butter sauce. She put the white wine, lemon juice, heavy whipping cream, shallots, and spices into a pan to saute them. After the ingredients heated (and the salmon on the griddle was flipped), she took the sauce off of the heat and swirled in the butter that Silver had diced for her. She took the fully cooked salmon off the griddle, placed them onto a large plate and put them in the oven to keep warm, then cooked the rest of the salmon on the griddle.

Silver had finished making the mango and peach salsa and placed it in the fridge. After she started up the rice cooker, full of wild rice. While she let that cook on its own, she went into the dining room and into the closet where all of the dining dishes were. On the table, she put place mats, plates, cups, napkins, cups, chopsticks, and forks and knives just in case. She went back into the kitchen, check the rice which was still not finished, and started boiling a pitcher of water for tea.

Venus had nearly finished cooking the salmon by the time Silver finished setting the table. She placed all of the salmon onto a large platter while silver grabbed the potatoes, salsa and rice which had just finished. Together, they walked into the dining room and, after Venus grabbed the tray stand from the pantry, they set the plates and bowls on the serving tray and began to set up the plates. Wild rice, topped with the salmon, topped with the mango and peach salsa on one side, and a generous amount of potatoes on the other, on each of the plates. They went back into the kitchen placed the dishes in the sink, and declared dinner finished.

While Silver grabbed the now-finished tea and headed back into the dining room, Venus walked into the living room.

"Yo. Dinner's ready." She said as she leaned up against the archway leading to the dining room, from the living room.

"YES, FINALLY!" Warren exclaimed as he leaped up. Venus had to flatten herself against the wall to avoid getting squashed like a pancake by the much, much larger male.

"He has been complaining about the smells of your cooking making him hungry since you guys started making dinner." Hayden said to her as he walked past, smiling his famous smile.

"Thank you for dinner, V. Smells and looks delicious." Ashlynn said as she walked past next, then took her seat. Yuki, Haru, and Kyo did the same. Venus took her seat at the head of the table last. She took a sip of her hot green tea, then picked up her chopstick and began to eat.

"Ohmy, this is sooo good." Warren half moaned, his mouth full of food. "You really should come back to the Kompound. I'm tired of eating Hayden's cooking."

"Watch it, brother..." Hayden growled from his seat next the Venus, who couldn't help but laugh a little.

Some time later, everyone had polished off their plates. All of the wild rice, salmon, mango peach salsa, and potatoes were gone. Even the pitcher of green tea was gone. It was still early in the evening, maybe only around seven or a little later, and everyone was enjoying themselves. They sat, reclined in their chairs, and tossed jokes and hilarious insults back and forth.

It was when Venus stood to declare it time for dessert when a ear-splitting bang sounded from outside. The power went out, and someone screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own any of the content relating to the original Fruits Basket, meaning Yuki, Haru, and Kyo. I do, however, own Venus, Ashlynn, Silver, Warren, Hayden, and Aleksei, and any other content related to them as well. I also own the complete plot and storyline in this fanfiction. You can find reference images for my characters on my profile._

_Apparently reviews are too much to ask for... Or reading past chapter one for that matter -_-_

_Again, if there are any errors, let me know and I will fix it. This is another almost-5am-post._

**Chapter 6**

The dining room was pitch black. The entire house was engulfed in darkness. There was almost no noise; everything was completely silent except for the humans breathing in the room. A scream lingered in the air, fading by the second, but no one dared to move from where they were. Then room by room, the lights began to flicker back on as the backup generator kicked in.

Everyone looked around as their eyes adjusted to the sudden flare of light around them. Each and every one of the boys had jumped to their feet. Venus had jumped up to crouch in her chair. Hayden had pushed his chair back against the wall, and stood where it used to be, a large black dagger gripped in his right hand. Warren had jumped up, grabbed Ashlynn and Silver by the upper arm, and hauled them out of their seats and away from the window. Ashlynn's green eyes were wide as saucer's and Silver's were the same, only she had her hands covering most of her face. She was the one who had screamed.

"What the fuck?" Venus hissed through clenched teeth. Hayden hushed her as he narrowed his eyes and looked around at nothing. "Did you just hu-" And he hushed her again. Venus folded her arms across her stomach and glared at him while she sank back into her chair.

"Is your security system on?" He asked her, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Fuck you, of course it's on. Who do you think you're talking to?" She spat at quietly as she could while trying to glare a hole through his head. He turned his head to meet her glare.

"That noise you heard wasn't thunder." He stated. "Tell me you have more than a simple alarm system."

"Alright, I have more than a simple alarm system."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

"Show me then." Hayden sighed.

"Alright. Upstairs." And she took off out of the dining room. Hayden looked at Warren and they had another one of their silent conversations. Then Hayden jogged out of the dining room and up the stairs after Venus.

"Let's go back in the other room." Warren muttered, pulling Ashlynn and Silver along with him as he moved.

"Okay, you can let go of me now! I'm quite capable of walking on my own, you know." Ashlynn snapped, wriggling her arm free of Warren's grip. He looked down at her, then lowered his hand, letting go of Silver as well. Silver all but fell back with a sigh.

"Hey! What's the big deal here? What's going on!" Kyo shouted as everyone walked out of the dining room and toward the living room. Ashlynn sighed as she plopped down onto the couch, yanking Kyo down next to her.

"Would you stop yelling? There's not much we can tell you. We hardly know anything ourselves, just that... some people are after us." She had kept her voice low, not knowing exactly what to say to the orange-haired boy.

"Someone's after you? Boy, that's a great excuse." He muttered as he moved to sit on the other end of the couch while Silver settled next to Ash, and Warren re-claimed the love seat.

Upstairs, Hayden found Venus leaning against the door at the end of the hall by Silver's room. The door that was _always_ locked. He stopped in front of her, crossing his arms across his chest as V unfolded hers.

"You didn't see _anything_." She whispered as she held up a silver key, which she seemingly pulled out of nowhere. Hayden just raised an eyebrow at her as she turned around with a smirk on her face. The click of the lock registered in his mind and Venus turned the knob. She glanced behind her quickly before she opened the door.

When she opened the door to allow Hayden to walk inside, his jaw dropped before he could.

"Pretty awesome, isn't it?" Venus said as she pulled him into the room and shut and locked the door behind her.

"Aleksei would have an orgasm on the spot, you know that?" Venus just giggled slightly as she spun and plopped down into the large black leather swivel chair. Hayden took a moment to look around the dark room. It was like a techies wet dream. The wall in which Venus sat facing was wall-to-wall, desk-to-ceiling flat screen monitors, each displaying something different. Beneath the large desk sat multiple glowing computer hubs; each was purring quietly. The wall across from the door was decorated with various items like servers, routers, printers, a white board, and who knows what else. The wall opposite the monitors was floor-to-ceiling bookshelves; not a single book out of place with no room to spare. It was so unlike her room, he thought. He was pulled from his admiring when the sound of nails tapping against the wooden desk reached him.

"So, you wanna see my not-so-simple alarm system or what?" She purred, crossing one yoga-pant-clad leg over the other. Hayden grinned and took the few steps needed to cross the room and stand next to her.

"Show me." He said as he leaned on hand against the desk, the other on the back of her fancy chair.

"Alright. Normally I hate when people hover over me like this, but..." She said, folding her legs up Indian-style to make herself comfortable as she cracked her knuckles. Her fingers flew across one of the touch screens on the desk that currently acted as a keyboard as she began to speak. "Each of these monitors is currently showing a different angle on the house, or out into the forest surrounding the house. They set to always record, so if anything happens, it will be stored on one of the servers over there." She pointed to the group of blue-glowing towers in the corner. "Also, they detect motion. So whenever something flickers across the screen or walks into view, even if it's just a little bird, the computer makes a note of it. It also sends an alert to my phone, that way I can come up and check when I'm not up here watching for myself. This whole setup is also why I have multiple backup generators."

"Do you know how paranoid that makes you sound?" Hayden joked as he turned to smile down at her for a second.

"Oh, but Aleksei would find it incredibly sexy." She grinned to herself while Hayden just rolled his eyes and let a grim look set upon his face.

"That's just because Aleksei is probably part computer."

"Don't hate, I'm just yankin' your strings."

"Yeah, I know..." Hayden muttered under his breath.

"Anyways, that's only part of what I've got in my repertoire. Check this out." She pressed some more 'keys' on her touchscreen and one of the monitors went blank, then pulled up a 3-D floor plan of the house. "The house is wired into the computers. So in a sense, it's kind of like a _smart house._ Feel me? I can inspect every inch of the house electronically, short of knowing if I have termites." Her lips pressed tight at the thought. "I better not get termites, ever..."

"What's that there?" He said, pointing to the walls in the 3-D image. There was a thin sliver of silver going through each of the walls, and spots here and there that were twice as thick.

"That," Venus replied, pulling up a closer view of the walls. "Is three inches of steel. It runs through each and every wall in this house, as well as in the roof. The supports and from of the house are also made out of steel, not wood like normally. And the best part? These thicker portions that you see slide to cover the doors and windows. It essentially makes this house impenetrable. Unless of course you were to nuke it or find your way in from beneath somehow."

"Damn girl. Do the others know they're living in Fort Knox?" Venus just hushed him as she poked around on her intricate computers some more. Hayden stood straight and watched her curiously. She pulled up the video stored from before and while they were eating dinner, but when she went to play the feed, it was nothing but static.

"Fucking... fuck!" She shouted as she stood abruptly, slamming a fist onto the desk and nearly pushing her chair over backwards. Hayden managed to take a step back before he got headbutted in the jaw. "That mini blackout must have done something to the servers before the generators could kick in..."

"Do you want me to call Aleksei? I'm sure he could do something about it, besides-"

"What, you think I'm not capable?" Venus snapped and she turned and stomped over to the servers lined up against the other wall. Hayden sighed.

"No, of course not. I was just going to say that I'm sure he'd love to see you guys again, and your little setup here as well. He could help if you need it." Venus narrowed her eyes and she fiddled around with one of the servers, but she didn't turn to look at him.

"You can go ahead and call him, but I'm _this close_ to shutting the house down. Then he won't be getting in, and no one will be getting out until I turn security off. And I'm just about to do that until I deem it safe. So it looks like you and Warren will be stuck here for a bit longer than planned."

"I bet Warren will be thrilled to hear that." Hayden drawled as he whipped his cell phone out of his pocket.

"He can suck it up. And you'll need to leave this room," Venus said. "You won't get signal in here. Trust me." Hayden cocked one eyebrow at her, but did as she suggested when he looked down at his phone and noticed that he in fact had no signal. Unlocking the door, he quietly stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Venus sighed and straightened, turning away from the servers and walking back to sit in her comfortable chair. She placed her elbows on the edge of her desk, laced her fingers together, and leaned her chin up against her knuckles. The situation frustrated her. _Extremely. _Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, then waited a few seconds before exhaling. Prying her eyes open again, she glared at the screens on her wall. Shit like this wasn't supposed to happen. Not to her anyways, though somehow the fact that it was didn't really surprise her. Look at the people she lived with, the ones that she grew up with. Weird things happened to the odd group all the time.

Groaning, she stood from her chair and stretched, not liking the way that her muscles were still protesting and her back was itching, even if only a little. She closed the 3-D model of the house and the video feed that was there before popped up in its place. Making sure everything was set the way it was before she and Hayden had walked in, she nodded once and then exited the room, making sure to lock the door. When she turned around, she almost slammed into Haru before she got a chance to look up.

"Oh, uhh... Whoops." She muttered, standing up straight to look him in the eyes.

"It's alright," He said, smiling slightly. "I just wanted to see if you and your friend needed any help. You two had been up here for awhile, and it was starting to get a bit noisy downstairs."

At that exact moment, Venus noticed that the TV was turned up quite loud, yet she could still clearly hear the voices of Warren, Kyo, occasionally Ashlynn, and Hayden yelling at them to shut up because he was on the phone, over it. She couldn't help but laugh a bit and return Haru's small smile.

"Well, I suppose we should go rescue them, dontcha think?" Haru laughed a bit too, nodding, allowing Venus to lead the way downstairs. The security would just have to wait until Aleksei got here. If he even decided to come anyways.

The two walked downstairs and halted in the living room near the foyer.

"Geez, I've only been down here for a minute and I'm already starting to get a headache." Venus said, her voice barely audible over the TV and the others. Warren and Kyo were arguing over something that was on the TV, and Ashlynn would interrupt them every now and then to throw in her two cents or tell them how stupid they were. Silver sat as close to the TV as she could get, trying to hear what was being said over the yelling. "I'm... gonna go check on Hayden."

Venus left Haru to the others and slipped into the kitchen. When she walked in, Hayden was just finishing what he was saying to the phone. V leaned one hip against the edge of of the counter as he snapped his phone closed. When he turned around, he jumped at the sight of her.

"Shit girl, don't sneak up on me like that." Venus raised an eyebrow at him, and he just laughed. "Aleksei is on his way. He should be here soon, he was already on his way when we hung up. Then you can lock the lot of us in here."

"That's going to be a boat-load of fun!" She said, clapping her hands sarcastically. "I hope he knows what he's in for."

"By the noise in the background, I think he does. At least... I hope so." Hayden rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"This is going to be a disaster." Venus sighed as she dropped her head, then squeaked as Hayden scooped her into a hug.

"Don't worry about it Bear, we'll get through it. Like always." He ruffled the top of her hair and she glared up at him. Then Warren came bulldozing into the kitchen as she was just about to say something back to Hayden.

"Out of the way you lovebirds, I'm on a mission." He shouldered Hayden out of the way and made a beeline for the fridge. "Hey! There's no milk in here!"

"No milk? What!" Came Kyo's voice from the other room.

"How can you be out of milk!" Warren shouted. "You just went shopping!"

"Check the fridge in the garage! There might be some out there." Ashlynn yelled back. Warren hustled out into the garage. Just a moment later, he came back into the kitchen.

"We're in luck! I found two jugs!" He yelled, holding them up.

"I hope you didn't just find two jugs. I thought men weren't supposed to have those." V said from her spot within Hayden's arms, her face completely serious. Then she grinned from ear to ear as Hayden's laugh echoed around her, even though she could hear just fine with one ear pressed against his chest. Laughter erupted in the other room too, and next thing she knew she was being yanked out of Hayden's arms. She screamed as she and Warren hit the ground just outside the kitchen, and started kicking and trying to wiggle free as he straddled her and began poking at her ticklish spots.

"You are _so_ in for it!" He said, grinning and laughing.

"No! Dammit Wa- Warren! Asshole! Fuck! St- stop!" Venus continued to yell at him with quite a bit of difficultly as she screamed and laughed, trying as hard and she could to punch at his chest. By this time, everyone else was staring and still laughing. Hayden had his arms wrapped over his stomach, leaning on the counter. Silver was still sitting by the TV, he hands covering her mouth as she laughed. Haru and Kyo were sitting on the larger couch, and Ashlynn had fallen off the love seat.

When Aleksei walked in the door, he abruptly stopped, one hand still on the door knob, eyes wide as he stared at the scene before him.

"Well, I am definitely in the right house." He had just enough time to drop the large duffel bag he brought inside with him, shut and lock the door before Ashlynn jumped on him.

"Aleksei!" She shouted over the others laughing, and Venus's yelling and screaming. Silver looked up and smiled, getting up to go say hello.

"Warren! Fuc- You fucking ass!" She managed to nail him in the jaw with a punch, then wriggled out from underneath the much larger, heavier man with a bit of difficulty.

"Damn, that one hurt." He said, rubbing his jaw as Venus ran over to hide behind Aleksei. Warren looked up at the tall African American man. He stared back with his serious, dark eyes, so dark that they were almost black. This time he had his waist-length dreadlocks hanging loose instead of pulled back with a band like normal. He wore faded jeans and a black leather jacket over his plain black tee. He also wore the same shitkickers that Warren and Hayden did.

"Nice to see you again, brother." Hayden said from the kitchen, sending a nod Aleksei's way. The other man returned the gesture.

"Chicky! You wore your hair down!" Venus said delightedly as she played with it from her spot hiding behind him, before anyone could say anything else. Aleksei's face went blank.

"I really hate it when you guys call me that." But he smiled anyways as Silver walked forward and opened her arms for a hug. "Hiya Bunny." He said, grinning as he swept her up into a hug.

"My turn, my turn for a Chicky hug!" Venus exclaimed as she jumped on his back and hugged him.

"Bear, I can't give you a hug from back there." She squeaked and hopped down, then scuttled around to hug him properly.

"We're all good now? I got my Tigger, Bunny and Bear hugs. Kinda feels like home again." Alekesi said, smiling down at the three girls.

"You're welcome here any time, right V?" Ashlynn said, glancing at her friend who just nodded happily.

"Hayden and Warren too! And the others!" Silver added.

"As long as you don't try to get us to go back to the Kompound. That's not happening." Venus said, her voice completely serious. Aleksei just laughed, then coughed a bit and stopped laughing we he saw how serious her face remained.

"I know," He said. "Hayden told me that much already. So, what was it you wanted me to see?" He leaned down to Venus's ear as he whispered the last part.

"Oh yeah!" She exclaimed and grabbed his hand, then hauled him upstairs. Everyone stared after them for a moment, then went back to what they were doing before Warren's milk interruption. Warren was even kind enough to put the two milk cartons he brought inside in the fridge.

While he did that, Hayden jogged upstairs to catch up with Venus and Aleksei. When he reached the landing, he looked to his left to see Venus about to open the door with a catty smile spread across her face.

"Sweet baby Jesus..." Aleksei breathed as she opened the door. His eyes widened as he looked around the dark room. Hayden had to push him inside seeing as the other male's feet were practically glued to the floor. "You didn't tell me I'd need an extra change of pants."

Venus and Hayden both chuckled as they made themselves comfortable; V went to recline in her large leather chair and Hayden leaned against the desk next to her. Aleksei, finally remembering how his legs worked, walked over to the desk on the other side of V's chair.

"This is nice. This is really, _really_ nice." He muttered to himself as he admired the many screens before him. Venus glanced as Hayden with one eyebrow cocked slightly as Aleksei admired her computer systems, mumbling to himself the whole time. "So you said the video feed was toast?"

"Well... yeah." Venus said, turning her gaze to the screens. She pressed a few things on the touch pad and brought up the same video that she had showed Hayden earlier. Together the three watched as the rain and wind tossed the trees around, then a big boom sounded and the feed turned to static. "See? Fuzz-busted."

"I see..." Aleksei hummed to himself. "Well, there's no getting it back as I'm sure you've figured out already. So all we can do is make sure that it won't happen again." Venus sighed. She figured as much.

"The generators are out in the garage." She got up from her chair, ushered the tow men out of her cave, and locked the door behind the three of them. Together they went down to the garage, ignoring all of the questioning looks they got from the others.

The garage was pretty cold, and they had to squeeze past the front of V's large Ford truck to get to the generators against the far wall.

"I don't understand why they failed. I maintain these suckers up the whoo-ha. They should be able to keep two of these houses going, and even the barn. Maybe it's the camera that's faulty." Venus offered. After Aleksei poked around the generators for a good fifteen minutes or so, he agreed with her. The generators were in tip-top condition. They couldn't have failed.

"Let's go outside and check the camera them." Venus glanced at the large steel garage doors. Even though they were quite a few inches thick, she could still hear the wind and rain throwing a tantrum outside.

"You two go ahead. I'll head back upstairs and watch the feed."

"Aw what's wrong, my Bear is afraid of a little storm?" Hayden teased as he bumped her side with his elbow.

"Stuff it, you know that's not true. And I'm not _your_ Bear." Then she turned and stormed back into the house.

"Nice going." Aleksei said as he stood and brushed his dreadlocks back behind he shoulders, giving Hayden _that look_.

"I know, I know..." Hayden groaned, turning to go back into the house. Aleksei followed him and they were met be Venus at the front door.

"Okay. You two better figure this out quick, otherwise I'm going to lock you outside with the monsters. Keeps you phones handy." With that, she marched up the stairs, leaving the other two staring after her.

Aleksei and Hayden sighed simultaneously as they went out the front door. A cell phone chirped and the two glanced at each other. Then Aleksei dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and flipped it open.

"Sup Bear?" He listened for a moment, plugging his other ear against the noise of the weather, then nodded. "We want the camera closest to the dining room." He told Hayden. They trudged across the neatly trimmed lawn, through the puddles of muddy water, and up to the camera that was attached to the wall near the window. It was quite hard to spot in the darkness, and with where it sat tucked under the overhang.

Upstairs, Venus watched the screens from the doorway of her computer room, seeing as actually being in the room would cause her to lose signal. "I see you." She said as the two boys came into view in one of the screens. On the screen, the two males fidgeted around with the camera, but nothing happened.

After a couple more minutes, Venus was beginning to become flustered. Then the screen fizzed out for a moment, then focused again. She immediately straightened and became alert. "Whoa! What did you just do?" She nearly shouted into the phone. "That! Whatever you just did there, it made the feed go static. Figure it out and get your asses back up here pronto." She ended the call and then continued watching the screen.

"Yes ma'am." Aleksei said as the line went dead. He and Hayden double checked the camera, then made their way back to the front door.

"Hey! Wipe your shoes on the mat if you're not going to take them off. This isn't the Kompound, you can't go trudging around in here with dirty boots on!" Ashlynn yelped from the living room when she noticed the two walk into the house. They both backed up onto the mat, thoroughly wiped their boots clean, hung up their leather jackets on the rack next to all of the other jackets and coats.

They went upstairs and met Venus at the computer room door. She allowed them to enter after she made sure no one was looking.

"So. What's the deal?" She demanded.

"It's the wiring, and the camera installation. It's possible that the source of the boom rattled the camera loose, or it has become loose over time. Also, one of the wires that is attached to it is starting to fray. That incident outside must have caused that, unless someone got into the camera's blind spot and tampered with it." Hayden said. Venus scoffed.

"My cameras have no blind spots. I made sure of it."

"Well, we don't know all of the abilities that the _Leviathan_ possess, so it's possible. Let's not rule that option out. You'll just have to fix it or get it fixed as soon as possible." Aleksei butt in.

"Fuck my life." Venus groaned. "I'll give you the electrical tape so you can wrap the wire until I can get it replaced when it stops raining." She turned and went to one of the desk drawers, sifted around, and pulled out a roll of black electrical tape. "Here. Fix it." She placed the roll in Aleksei's open hand. "You go with him to watch his back. Or make sure he doesn't screw it up. Whichever way you want to look at it." She demanded of Hayden. He would have joked about her getting cranky, but decided against it.

"Let's go." He said instead, following Aleksei out the door. Venus gave her back a scratch, then plopped down into her seat. She watched the screen for the two males to come into view, then observed their fixing of the camera. The feed fizzed out as they messed with the wire, but went steady again when they took a step back, finished with the temporary repairs. After a few seconds, they stepped out of the camera's current view and she heard the front door open, then close downstairs.

"Time to lock up..." She whispered to herself. A few touch-keys later, she heard the groan of the mechanisms in the walls shift, then the sound of all of the steel panels slam shut over all of the window, doors, and other vulnerable areas. A yelp from everyone not aware of what was happening let her know that everything has shut properly. Ignoring the shouting from Kyo and Warren, she continued to watch the feed for a few more minutes, then sighed and left and locked up the room.

She trudged down the stairs and into the living room, dropping her body into the large bean bag by the reinforced sliding glass doors.

"What the the fuck is going on!" Warren and Kyo shouted simultaneously shouted as they stormed back into the living room, one from the kitchen, the other from the bathroom down the hall.

"I just turned on my security, that's all. I'll turn it off once I'm sure the threat has gone." Venus replied nonchalantly, waving a thin hand above her head.

"How the hell are we supposed to go home?" Warren growled.

"And what about school, Miss Venus?" Yuki said, his voice soft, yet concerned.

"You aren't going home. Not until the security is off. Unless of course you would rather get snatched up by whatever might be lurking out there. By whatever caused that racket earlier. I personally don't. And school will have to wait. We can't risk it."

"You couldn't have warned us first? I would have gotten my ass out of here before you shut those damn steel covers!" Warren continued to make a fuss while Venus grew irritated, and the others just accepted the idea. More or less.

"Would you just shut it already! Security is on. You aren't leaving until I say so. Got it?" Venus ground out through clenched teeth and she got up, marched over to Warren, jabbed him in the chest a few times, and stared him in the eye. He backed off a couple steps when he noticed her eyes beginning to turn.

"Okay, okay..." He looked away, unable to hold her gaze. An awkward silence set in when Venus crossed the room again and reclaimed the bean bag.

"I suppose I'll go dig the sleeping bags and air mattresses out of the closet. Silver?" Ashlynn said, breaking the silence. Silver got up and followed her into the closet underneath the stairs. A light flickered on and one by one, rolled up sleeping bags and air mattresses were tossed out into the living room.

Silver shimmied out of the closet and gathered the bags and mattresses into a pile while Ashlynn turned the light off and shut the closet door.

"Alright, someone can take the foldout couch. If you want, you can sleep on the love seat. It reclines. Or you can sleep on the bean bag if V moves. Otherwise, we've got four air mattresses and six sleeping bags."

"I call the couch!" Warren yelled, shifting his mass over to sit on the couch.

"Alright, make that four air mattresses then." Ashlynn said, rolling her eyes. Slowly, they took the time to fill up all of the air mattresses. After, everyone claimed a spot to watch whatever was on the TV. Warren sprawled out on the couch, Yuki, Kyo, and Haru each on their own air mattress, and Aleksei on the last one. Venus was still on the bean bag and Ashlynn and Silver were both sitting on the love seat. Hayden was in the kitchen getting a drink and a snack.

A short amount of time passed and Silver had gotten up to go to bed. Yuki and Aleksei had already fallen asleep despite the fact that it was only around ten at night. Warren, Haru, and Kyo watched some sports game on the TV. Hayden was still in the kitchen, on the phone most likely seeing as he still had to deal with whatever was going on back home at the Kompound. Ashlynn was nearly finished reading a book that she had started the other day. Then Venus got up and stretched in a cat-like manner.

"I'm going to bed." She said tiredly. Ashlynn nearly dropped her book onto her lap.

"The world _must_ be ending." Her voice held quite a bit of shock in it.

"No. Not today. Just... You know." Ashlynn just nodded and lifted her book to continue reading.

Venus forced herself to climb the stairs and walk down the hall to her room. Even though she was almost too tired to, she used the bathroom, brushed her teeth and cleaned up her face. Avoiding tripping on whatever was on the floor, she took her Victoria's Secret sweater off and climbed into bed, sighing as the memory foam mattress conformed to her shape and the down comforter weighed down on her thin body. Despite the fact that she had such a thick blanket, she still found herself to be cold. And despite the fact that an hour or so had passed and everyone else had long gone to sleep downstairs, she still couldn't manage to fall asleep.

As she drifted in an in-between world, lingering between being conscious and asleep, her mind registered a knock on her slightly open door. Somehow she managed a rumbled response that sounded like something between a _what?_ And a _hmm?_.

"Bear?" It was Hayden. Venus just grunted that same response as before. "There's no room downstairs... can I join you."

"Mmmyeasure." She mumbled, her words blending together as she scooted over towards one side of her bed to give him room on the other. She heard his boots thud quietly across the wooden floors, and the rustling of her blankets as he sat on the bed to take them off. Then the blankets shifted and rustled again as he climbed under them. She found herself growing warm, and she found the presence of someone familiar next to her comforting. Next thing she knew, she had fallen into a deep sleep.


End file.
